A Successful Failure – When Failure Forces a Pivot
Updated: Dec 23, 2025
Certified Health Coach and transformation strategist helping midlife women reinvent their wellness, leadership, and identity with grace and purpose. I teach alignment over hustle and resilience over burnout.
In high-performance cultures, failure is inevitable. True leadership is demonstrated by how we recover, recalibrate, and move forward without risking burnout.
Failure is rarely discussed openly in leadership circles, particularly at senior levels. We often celebrate resilience in hindsight, highlight success stories, and reward confidence. However, one truth remains: failure is not only possible but inevitable when pursuing growth.
What distinguishes effective leaders from those who burn out is not the absence of failure, but the ability to recover strategically, emotionally, and physically, and to pivot with clarity rather than fear. A notable example of this leadership comes from space, not the boardroom.
Apollo 13: When failure became leadership intelligence
Apollo 13, the seventh crewed mission in NASA’s Apollo program, was launched on April 11, 1970, with the goal of landing on the Moon. Two days into the mission, an oxygen tank in the service module exploded, crippling the spacecraft and aborting the planned lunar landing.[1]
By traditional metrics, the mission failed.
What followed was not chaos, but disciplined leadership and creative problem-solving under immense pressure. Teams at NASA’s Mission Control and the astronauts executed an extraordinary rescue effort, bringing Commander James A. Lovell Jr. and his crew safely back to Earth four days later. This effort, driven by ingenuity, clear communication, and rapid adaptation, has since been described as a “successful failure.”[2]
Rather than cling stubbornly to the original goal, NASA’s teams stabilized the situation, assessed the new reality, and redefined the mission objective, not a lunar landing, but survival and safe return.
This strategic pivot under pressure provides a leadership lesson that remains relevant in today’s complex professional environments.
A leadership reflection: When failure became a turning point
Early in my leadership journey, I experienced a professional setback that challenged not only my role but also my sense of competence. I was preparing for my first presentation to senior management. I’d taken the time to research my topics and ensure that my data was accurate. With over twenty years in resource management, I felt comfortable with my subject and prepared for every scenario, so I thought.
The senior manager glanced at my first slide and exclaimed, “I don’t want to see any of this! This ain’t what I’m looking for!”
He proceeds to draw on the whiteboard and sketch out a list of what he wants to see. I stood there in silence as he drew on the board, wishing I could teleport somewhere else.
Externally, I remained composed and productive. Internally, I realized how closely I had linked my self-worth to performance. In that moment, I did not need a quick solution or bold action, but rather space to regulate, reflect, and reassess.
That experience reshaped how I lead. I learned that failure is not a signal to rush forward, it is an invitation to listen, examine assumptions, and consider what the moment reveals about values, boundaries, and direction.
Like Apollo 13, the original plan did not survive, but the mission continued and evolved. The leadership lesson is clear, recovery is not a pause from leadership, it is an essential part of it.
Why failure feels harder at senior levels
As professionals rise, failure carries a different weight.
At senior levels, identity often becomes intertwined with competence. Increased visibility raises reputational risk. Leaders are expected to project certainty, composure, and control, even in uncertain circumstances, failure doesn’t feel like a misstep. It feels personal.
This is where many high-achieving leaders falter, not because they fail, but because they try to move past failure without taking time to recover.
The hidden cost of powering through
In leadership culture, resilience is often mistaken for endurance. Pushing forward is praised, while pausing is questioned.
Yet unprocessed failure often manifests physically before it appears in performance metrics:
Chronic stress and fatigue
Emotional reactivity or withdrawal
Decision fatigue and reduced clarity
Diminished creativity and strategic thinking
From a wellness perspective, failure activates the nervous system’s threat response. Without regulation, leaders may overcorrect, make rushed decisions, or internalize setbacks as personal inadequacy.
Recovery is not an indulgence, it is essential to maintain effective leadership.
The leadership rebound: A wellness-informed approach
Just as Apollo 13 required systems thinking and rapid adaptation, leadership recovery requires internal recalibration. Effective leaders rebound through three deliberate phases.
Pause: Regulate before you respond. Before analysis comes regulation.
This involves slowing the physiological stress response, creating space between emotion and action, and resisting decisions driven by urgency or ego.
A regulated leader sees options. A dysregulated leader sees threats.
Extract: Turn failure into intelligence
Failure is data, not a verdict. Leaders who recover well ask:
What assumptions failed?
What signs were overlooked?
What worked despite the outcome?
Reflection prevents rumination. Identifying lessons restores a sense of agency. A pivot is not a retreat, it is a recalibration.
Effective leaders reposition their skills without redefining their worth, communicate changes with clarity rather than apology, and remain anchored in their values as roles evolve. flexible, recovery is faster.
Why leaders who recover well lead better
Leaders who have failed and recovered differently. They manage risk with discernment rather than fear, foster psychological safety, mentor without ego, and model adaptability instead of perfection.
Just as Apollo 13 reshaped NASA’s approach to safety, crisis management, and systems design for future missions, leaders who rebound well build organizations that are more resilient, innovative, and human.[1]
Failure is an option, stagnation is not
Apollo 13 demonstrates that success is not about rigidly following the original plan, but about responding wisely when conditions change.
The most sustainable leaders understand this:
Failure is an option.
Burnout, denial, and rigidity are not.
Recovery is not a weakness, it is a leadership skill.
In an era defined by uncertainty, leaders who thrive will not be those who never fail, but those who know how to pause, recalibrate, and move forward with clarity, care, and courage.
Failure invites growth, but only if we allow ourselves the space to recover. How might your leadership evolve if recovery became part of your strategy?
Read more from Beverly K. Johnson
Beverly K. Johnson, Health and Wellness Coach
Beverly Johnson is a Certified Health Coach, speaker, and midlife wellness strategist helping women navigate hormonal transitions, workplace burnout, and identity shifts with resilience and clarity. Drawing from her background in wellness, leadership, and personal transformation, she developed the MindBodySoul Reset, a science-informed framework for sustainable wellbeing. Beverly’s work bridges emotional intelligence, hormonal health, and intentional leadership to support high-performing women in thriving personally and professionally. She writes about reinvention, alignment, and the evolving landscape of women’s wellness.
References:
[1] NASA. (n.d.). Apollo 13: The successful failure. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
[2] NASA History Office. (n.d.). Lessons learned from Apollo 13. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
[3] Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. (n.d.). Apollo 13: Crisis management and ingenuity.
[4] History.com Editors. (2020). Apollo 13: Mission failure that became a success. A&E Television Networks.
[5] Edmondson, A. C. (2011). Strategies for learning from failure. Harvard Business Review, 89(4), 48-55.
