Failure May Be Your Strongest Life Asset

A friend once told me about the morning after his business collapsed. He woke up, looked at his phone, and saw only silence. The calls and emails that once filled his day had vanished. The worst part, he said, was not the debt or the loss of the business, but the look in his child’s eyes when he asked why he was still at home.

In the weeks that followed, he began avoiding friends, business associates, even family gatherings and industry meetings. He became a recluse. It started to weigh on his physical and emotional health. To the world he looked fine, but inside he was not.

So you have failed. This one word itself is very heavy.

For now, perhaps it is the only word echoing in your head. Failure feels like a full stop, not a comma. It brings silence, it brings self-doubt, it brings shame. People stop calling, or they do not know what to say. You look at yourself in the mirror and wonder if you still recognise the person staring back.

If this is where you are today, pause.

Take a breath. You are not alone.

Is failure a stigma? Yes, society often makes it feel that way.

Is it shame? Yes, you may feel the weight of that.

But is it what decides who you are? Is it what defines you? Is it the only event in your life or career? Is it permanent?

The answer is no.

Failure can shape you, but only if you do not allow it to scar you. Failure can shape you, but only if you do not allow it to hold you.

So what if you stumbled in your job, lost a prized project, or saw a business collapse? Does life truly exist to draw a line that always climbs upwards? Of course not. Yet it is human to feel crushed. Entrepreneurs, in particular, experience stigma and feelings of inferiority, guilt, and embarrassment when ventures fail. This self-stigma is why many retreat, avoiding new risks for years. The shame feels heavier than the loss itself.

In my work coaching CEOs, founders, and business owners, I have seen this pain surface time and again. No matter how accomplished or admired they may appear, failure can make even the strongest feel isolated - and it is in those quiet, hidden struggles that they most need compassion, not judgement.

Here is the hard truth: you cannot skip the grief. To pretend it does not matter will hurt you more. The healthier path is to acknowledge the pain, admit the anger, and even mourn what you thought would be. You need to heal.

Studies show that entrepreneurs who allow themselves this process recover faster, and when they re-enter the arena, they do so with sharper judgement and deeper resilience.

It grows stronger when you take stock honestly, when you write down what you would do differently, when you pick up the phone to ask for advice, and when you dare to share your story. In doing so, you turn failure into data, and yourself into a learner. Researchers call this ‘entrepreneurial learning’ - the art of testing assumptions more quickly, adapting strategies more nimbly, and seeing opportunities that others miss. Perhaps most importantly, failure frees you from fear. Once you have fallen, you know you can rise. That courage to take calculated risks is the very foundation of innovation.

Many of the successful and popularly known entrepreneurs endured colossal failures before success, and that is no accident. Failure is a merciless but brilliant teacher. It strips away illusions and forces clarity. Progress matters more than perfection, resilience must be culture not rhetoric, and money is fuel, not comfort.

But, let’s accept. None of this makes failure easy. The Silicon Valley slogan “fail fast, fail often” risks glossing over the human cost. Failure can break relationships, drain energy, and crush self-belief. The stigma in our society can make it worse, turning commercial setbacks into moral judgements. Insolvency, for instance, is treated as if it is personal disgrace rather than financial circumstance.

But remember this: stigma is cultural, not personal. Failure is situational, not moral.

If you lead others, know that your response will set the tone. Speak the truth without theatrics. Share what you have learned. Let your team grieve with you.

Mark the end of one chapter, then begin the next with clarity and focus. Investors and colleagues will watch not only whether you failed but how you processed it. The difference between a scar and a badge is meaning. A scar says, “I was hurt.” A badge says, “I learned, and I am ready.”

The stigma around failure can be heavier in cultures, including ours, where business setbacks are too quickly conflated with moral weakness. Insolvency or loss of a venture often carries social shame, discouraging entrepreneurs from trying again. But this is where you must step back and see clearly. Failure is commercial, not moral. Once you separate this, you can move forward without that invisible weight. Investors too, in the end, care less about whether you failed than about whether you can show what you learned from it — whether you now test faster, allocate capital more carefully, and build stronger networks.

So let us return to the questions we began with.

Is failure a stigma?

Is it shame?

Is it what decides who you are?

Is it what defines you?

Is it the only event in your life or career?

Is it permanent?

None of the above.

If you have lost a deal, lost face, or lost faith, remember this. Failure is not forever. It is not who you are. It has no power to remain permanent unless you give it that power. Failure can shape you, but only if you refuse to let it break you.

That same friend who once shut himself away from colleagues and even family found a way back. Slowly, he began attending small gatherings again. He forced himself to walk into one industry meeting, then another. He admitted to others what had happened, and to his surprise, many had their own stories of failure to share. His health improved, his confidence returned, and his second venture, though smaller, was steadier. What had once felt like an ending became a beginning.

Because that is how you restore balance. That is how you rebuild. That is how you bounce back

Srinath Sridharan is a corporate adviser & independent director on Corporate Boards. Author of Family and Dhanda.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of NDTV Profit or its editorial team.