Why Your Worst Moment Might Be Your Best Opportunity

A note to young leaders.

The worst time to take a big risk is just after a major success. The best time is just after a major failure.

In 1977, T. Gary Rogers’ restaurant business had just collapsed. He had four kids to feed, no income and no savings.

One afternoon, Rogers walked into the head office of Dreyers Grand Ice Cream in Oakland, California. He loved the product and had come to ask about becoming a franchisee.

At the time, Dreyer’s was a small, barely break-even company with $6 million in sales and 75 employees.

While Rogers was chatting to the owner of Dreyers, the owner got a phone call.

When he hung up, he had tears in his eyes. The bank had just turned him down for a loan to expand his factory. On pure impulse, Rogers asked him if he had ever considered selling the company. “Not until just now”, he answered.

Three days later, Rogers had an option to buy the business for $1.1 million: “I got a group of investors to back me and took out a loan.”

In 2006, Dreyers Grand Ice Cream was acquired by Nestle for USD 3.2 billion.

Too often, we treat failure as a hole we have to climb out of.

That’s a topographical error.

Failure is not a pit.

It’s a stepping stone – but only if you have the self-belief to step up rather than sit down.