Blog 19: The Journey Includes the Stumble

The Journey Includes the Stumble: How Leaders Grow Through Failure

Every leader stumbles. Learn how reflection, recommitment, and resilience turn mistakes into momentum and why failure isn’t final unless you stop.

The Journey Includes the Stumble

“The most important words a man can say are, ‘I will do better.’”
— Oathbringer, Brandon Sanderson

Every leader stumbles.

We’ve all got a scar story. Not the kind you brag about in performance reviews, the kind you wince at when someone asks, “What happened there?”

Here’s mine.

I was managing a major client project when we had a failure. Not catastrophic. But costly.

The technical side was rescued, the deliverables met. But I missed the fine print—literally. I let scope creep.

The client couldn’t complete their part, so we stepped in. We did the work. But I didn’t escalate. I didn’t document. I didn’t notify anyone that we were overrunning the budget by $250,000.

I knew the work. I just didn’t read the contract.

The project was worth millions, but the overrun was real. And my company had to eat it.

That wasn’t just a technical failure. That was a leadership one. And yes, it could have been a CLM, a career limiting move, at least in that industry.

But it wasn’t the end.

I owned it. I learned from it. And I never made that mistake again.

I took the most important step—the next one.
And I became a different kind of leader.

Failure Isn’t Final

“Sometimes a hypocrite is just someone in the process of changing.”
— Brandon Sanderson

At SemitaCor, we frame this as:
Reflection → Recommitment → Resilience.

Because real leadership isn’t about never falling. It’s about what you do next.

Failure isn’t final, unless you stop.

The journey includes the stumble. What matters is how you keep walking.

Your Turn

What failure have you owned and how did it change the way you lead?

At SemitaCor, we help leaders turn missteps into momentum through story-driven coaching, EQ insight, and the courage to keep moving.