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Looking back, Ken Niumatalolo can see clearly how failure made him a better leader, preparing him to serve as Navy’s head football coach.
Twenty years ago, Niumatalolo was fired from his role there as offensive coordinator.
It was a blow for the young father. “I had to re-evaluate myself,” he said. “I was too arrogant and outspoken. I thought I had all the answers.”
By the time he landed his next coaching job, Niumatalolo had been humbled. He was a better listener and a more attuned coach.
“To be a leader, you have to listen,” he said.
Niumatalolo went on to forge an impressive career, and in 2007, the same team that had fired him hired him to be its head coach. He has since become the winningest coach in the history of Navy football.
1,000.
It took Thomas Edison 1,000 tries before he developed a successful prototype for the light bulb. “I didn’t fail 1,000 times,” he told a reporter. “The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”
Viewing failure as a stepping stone to success rather than a near-death experience makes a huge difference, research indicates, empowering one to tackle future challenges head on. And you’ll be better equipped for the next challenge once you have a devoted mentor – the kind you get when you become an Amway Independent Business Owner. These business experts stand by you through trials and triumphs.
As part of the Amway Coaches Poll Inspired Coaching, we asked head football coaches to reflect on the lessons they gleaned from failure.
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KEN NIUMATALOLO
From rock bottom to the very top
MARIO CRISTOBAL
Rising to the occasion
High-school football didn’t go as Mario Cristobal had envisioned it as a scrawny freshman in Miami.
“I was getting thrown around like a ragdoll,” said Cristobal, head football coach at the University of Oregon.
He began hitting the weights every night and pouring his all into every drill. When he finally broke through, he was hooked.
“I believe in those failures being a driving force,” he said.
By the end of high school, Cristobal had packed on more than 100 pounds of muscle and advanced a career that would ultimately get him signed with the NFL.
Today he’s quick to seize the teaching moments in a loss. “The best lessons have come from failure,” Cristobal said.
He also studies film to look for the lessons in a win. “You’ll see things that somehow you got away with,” he said. To get complacent about those errors is “dangerous,” he said, so he pushes his players to make every possible improvement.
That same spirit guides Amway’s Independent Business Owner program, which was founded to help people realize their potential. IBOs benefit from more than ninety free online courses – a customized education that is supplemented with networking, marketing resources and ongoing support. They are empowered to be in business for themselves – but not by themselves.
JAMES FRANKLIN
No’s that led to the ultimate yes
"Learning through failure is what college football is all about."
To be head football coach of Penn State is a dream come true for James Franklin, a Pennsylvania native now in his fifth year leading the Nittany Lions.
“This is home,” he said.
And so, he looks back with gratitude for the times he applied for a coaching position but did not get an offer.
“At the time, I thought it was devastating,” he said. “But those situations allowed me to get to where I am today. The failures are opportunities for growth.”
Growing up in a single-parent household, Franklin learned early on to appreciate adversity. Each time he overcame a challenge, he saw how it strengthened him.
It helped him develop the big-picture view that now informs his coaching.
“Walking through failure and learning through failure is what college football is all about,” he said. “As much as I love to watch film and come up with plays and recruit, it’s about walking with those players through their challenges.”
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"Getting fired helped me become a better coach."
Source: Harvard Business Review
"The best lessons have come from failure."
Number of science experiments conducted by professional researchers that fail
70%
Number of NCAA football players that make it to the NFL
1.6%
Source: NCAA
When Failure is the Starting Point
Three college football coaches reflect on how their winning strategy is influenced by overcoming adversity