Roadmap showing many stops and difficulties as why failure is good for success
iStock/esolla

Influencer Marketing

Expand your reach and engage with your target audience using this trending technique that blends celebrity endorsements with social media marketing.

Leading High Performing Remote Teams

How can leaders ensure that performance remains high in remote or hybrid-work environments?

Design Thinking

Learn the 5 phases of this problem-solving methodology and switch from technology-centered to user-centered thinking.

Reciprocity

Learn what reciprocity is and how it can motivate people and boost sales.

Gantt Chart

Invented in the early 20th century, the Gantt Chart is one of the building blocks of modern project management. In this online course, you'll learn how this tool can be used effectively to monitor progress and achieve your team's goals.

Navigating Change Successfully

The working landscape is continually shifting and being disrupted, so how to employees maintain a sense of stability? Listen to CEO and president of Carl ZEISS Japan Stefan Sacre share his expertise on dealing with change in organizations and entire industries.

Halo Effect

The halo effect is often leveraged for marketing and promotion. But as a type of cognitive bias, it can also have a subconscious impact on decision-making in the workplace. Learn why and (how to overcome it) in this online course.

Anchoring and Framing

Want to increase your confidence during negotiations? Master the principles of anchoring and framing to take your negotiation skills to the next level.

ZOPA and BATNA

Understanding ZOPA and BATNA will help you become a better negotiator, create more value, and feel more confident at the table.

Content Marketing

In this course, you’ll learn how compelling blogs, videos, podcasts, and other media can reach customers and drive sales. You’ll also learn steps for creating an effective content marketing plan, and some important ways to measure its impact and success.

Content marketing is a essential digital marketing strategy for companies looking to provide relevant and useful information to support your community and attract new customers.

Get started on your content marketing journey today.

Sustainable Innovation in Times of Disruption: Choices for a Better Society

There are opportunities for progress all around us. The key is to innovate on these opportunities sustainably.

To help identify most effective path forward, you'll need to gain a global perspective to these challenges in an open discussion. How can Japan and the world take action to create a more sustainable, innovative world? Where do you fit in?

It's time to find out.

Social Media & Digital Communications: Impact on Global Public Opinion

Social and digital media have dominated the communications industry for decades. But it's no secret that social media has the power to sway public opinion, and the way in which many companies use these platforms could be seen as manipulative.

What do companies need to be aware of when utilizing social and digital media? How can these mediums be used to better communicate strategically with the world?

Discover what top media and communications experts have to say.

Blockchain

Blockchain is one of the most captivating technologies out there. Learn what it is and how to make use of its opportunities in this short online course.

Mehrabian’s Rule

The 7-38-55 Rule, developed by Albert Mehrabian, suggests that effective communication relies less on the words we choose than on our tone of our voice, appearance, and body language. Learn how to put this theory to use for better communication in business.

Pareto Principle

Your time and resources are limited. Efficiency means learning to prioritize. The Pareto principle (also called the 80-20 rule) can help you identify the best way to use your time for maximum results.

Country Analysis Framework

Overseas expansion requires careful planning. The Country Analysis Framework can help you look beyond an industry-level analysis and reframe your view based on performance, strategy, and context. Try this short course to learn how it works.

SECI Model

The SECI model illustrates how knowledge is created and shared. Learn how to put it to use for best practices, and how the Japanese concept of “ba” fits in to broaden your perspective.

Johari Window Model

The Johari Window Model is a self-awareness framework that helps you better understand . . . you. Learn how its four quadrants can help you identify gaps between how you see yourself, and how others see you.

Sunk Costs

Wondering if you should continue an investment or look for something new? Sunk costs can have a powerful psychological impact on decision-making. Learn how to recognize them to ensure rational decisions.

CAGE Distance Framework

Want to expand overseas? The CAGE distance framework can help ensure you're constructing a solid global strategy in four areas: cultural, administrative, economic, and geographic. Learn how to leverage useful differences between countries, identify potential obstacles, and achieve global business success.

Groupthink

Groupthink refers to group pressure and the perception of consensus which together lead to ill-formed decisions—or even unnecessary risks. Learn to identify the warning signs of groupthink and apply countermeasures in this online course.

Deductive and Inductive Reasoning

Solving problems with the best results means using two types of thinking: deductive and inductive reasoning. In this online course, learn to form a broad premise, make observations, and form conclusions from different perspectives.

Critical Thinking: Hypothesis-Driven Thinking

Anyone can come up with a good idea. The real challenge is putting that idea into action. In this online course, explore how to form compelling, testable hypotheses and bring ideas to life in your own organization.

Critical Thinking: Structured Reasoning

Even a few simple techniques for logical decision making and persuasion can vastly improve your skills as a leader. Explore how critical thinking can help you evaluate complex business problems, reduce bias, and devise effective solutions.

Critical Thinking: Problem-Solving

Problem-solving is a central business skill, and yet it's the one many people struggle with most. This course will show you how to apply critical thinking techniques to common business examples, avoid misunderstandings, and get at the root of any problem.

How to Dream

Join globally renowned author and Columbia Business School professor Dr. Sheena Iyengar as she explains how to approach your dreams with a new perspective. Learn to reflect on what you long to accomplish and what stands in your way.

Logical Thinking

Logical thinking is at the heart of confident, persuasive decisions. This course will equip you with a five-point approach to more becoming a more logical thinker. Learn to classify ideas and distinguish fact from opinion.

Investing & Diversity: The Changing Faces of Venture Capitalists

Is the venture capital industry embracing diversity in investors? Watch global venture capitalists from around the world discuss the state of things and what needs to be done for a more inclusive future.

Servant Leadership

There's more to leadership than driving a team to profit. In fact, there's a word for looking beyond self-interest to prioritize individual growth: servant leadership. Try this course for a quick breakdown of what that is, how it works, and how it can lead to organizational success.

Organizational Behavior and Leadership

Ever wonder what makes a great leader? Whether your role requires leadership or not, understanding organizational behavior is useful for your career. This course from GLOBIS Unlimited can set you on your way.

Leadership vs. Management

Leadership and management are different skills, but today’s leaders must have both. Try out this course from GLOBIS Unlimited to understand the difference, as well as when and why each skill is necessary for motivation, communication, and value.

Strategy: Creating Value Inside Your Company

Have you ever wondered why certain companies are more successful than others? The answer is strategy: internal processes that control costs, allocate resources, and create value. This course from GLOBIS Unlimited can give you the tools you need for that strategic edge.

Strategy: Understanding the External Environment

To plan strategy on any level, you need to understand your company's external environment. In fact, your level of understanding can impact hiring, budgeting, marketing, or nearly any other part of the business world. Want to learn how to do all that? This course from GLOBIS Unlimited is the perfect first step!

Using Japanese Values to Thrive in Global Business

Japanese companies have unique cultural, communication, and operational challenges. But they also have values that have led to remarkable longevity. Check out this seminar to hear how these values help earn trust from overseas head offices and develop employees.

Turnaround Leadership: The Differences Between Japan and the West

What's the best way for leaders to communicate a shift in corporate strategy? How do you even know when it's time for such a change? This course explains how Japan might have one answer, Western companies another.

Conflict Management

Conflicts in the workplace are inevitable. But they can lead to positive outcomes if they’re managed well. Check out this online course for a two-step process that can help you manage conflict successfully.

Evernote Founder: How Tech Startups Can Break through in Japan

Can startup models from Hollywood and Silicon Valley succeed anywhere? Phil Libin, cofounder and CEO of startup incubator All Turtles, explains how AI can solve everyday problems to bring products to market.

Women Empowerment: Lessons from Cartier

How can women overcome gender inequality and reach their leadership goals? Cartier Japan CEO June Miyachi shares her secret in this special course from GLOBIS Unlimited.

Marketing: Reaching Your Target

Every company works hard to get its products into the hands of customers. Are you doing everything you can to compete? In this course, you’ll find a winning formula to turn a product idea into real sales. Follow along through the fundamentals of the marketing mix and see how companies successfully bring products to market.

Marketing Mix

Seeing good products into the hands of customers is no easy task. The marketing mix can help. It's a collection of strategies and tactics companies utilize to get customers to purchase their products or services, and is an essential part of the overall marketing process.

The Principles of Negotiation

With the proper skills and attitude, anyone can become a successful negotiator.  But first, you'll need to learn the basics to prepare for, assess, and respond to offers for the best results. GLOBIS Unlimited can help.

Negotiation: Creating Value

Want to create more shared value between yourself and your negotiation opponent? Discover how cognitive bias affects the judgment of others. Try this course from GLOBIS Unlimited to master the value of negotiation.

Finding Your Life Purpose with Ikigai

Ikigai can guide you in your quest for self-discovery. Listen to Japanese brain scientist Ken Mogi explain why and how.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Want to leverage Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as a leader? Try this short course to see how the theory can be applied in practical work scenarios.

Confirmation Bias

We all subconsciously collect information that reinforces our preconceptions. It's natural . . . but it does lead to a kind of flawed decision-making called confirmation bias. To become more objective and impartial, check out this course from GLOBIS Unlimited!

An Investor's Lesson to Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs have the power to transform societies for the better. But how do you attract investors to start or grow a business? Or to sell one? Check out this seminar for the answers to these and more, straight from a master venture capitalist!

Managerial Accounting

Managerial accounting is a powerful way to measure progress, identify problems, and meet your goals. Check out this course to learn how data-backed decisions can help you run your business.

Finance Basics: 1

For a healthy mix of quantitative planning, evaluation, and management, you need solid decision-making. And finance is the secret sauce! Get the essentials of finance in this two-part course from GLOBIS Unlimited.

Basic Accounting: Financial Analysis

Want to compare your performance vs. a competitor? Or evaluate a potential vendor? Then you'll need to conduct a financial analysis. This course will teach you how to use three financial statements and evaluate financial performance in terms of profitability, efficiency, soundness, growth, and overall strength.

Career Anchors

What drives you to be good at your job?

Career anchors are based on your values, desires, motivations, and abilities. They are the immovable parts of your professional self-image that guide you throughout your career journey.

Try this short GLOBIS Unlimited course to identify which of the eight career anchors is yours!

Digital Marketing Psychology to Transform Your Business

How does digital marketing really differ from traditional marketing? How is social media changing things really? And what's going on in Asia?

Pyramid Structure

Having the pyramid structure in your communication toolkit can not only help you approach a problem, but convince others that your solution is valid. Break away from linear thinking and test your logical thinking with this course from GLOBIS Unlimited!

Leadership with Passion through Kokorozashi

The key ingredient to success? Passion.

Finding your kokorozashi will unify your passions and skills to create positive change in society. This GLOBIS Unlimited course will help you develop the values and lifelong goals you need to become a strong, passion-driven leader.

AI First Companies – Implementation and Impact

AI is changing the way companies operate. How do you structure teams to increase efficiency?

Technovate in the Era of Industry 4.0

Is Industry 4.0 is the next step of human evolution human civilization? Dr. Jorge Calvo seems to think so. Join him to learn how the past can help you set goals for an exciting future of digital innovation.

Technovate Thinking

Business leaders of tomorrow need to harness the power of technology and innovation. That means understanding algorithms and how they drive business results. Discover opportunities to make technology work for your competitive edge.

Product Life Cycle

Every product takes a natural course through the market—there's a how, when, and why customers adopt products at different stages. Check out this course from GLOBIS Unlimited to find out how a product you use every day is part of this cycle.

Logic Tree

Logical thinking is the most valuable asset any business professional can have. That's why logic trees are such a valuable tool—they can help you identify a problem, break it down, and build it back up to a solution.

MECE Principle

Using the MECE principle can help ensure you categorize without gaps or overlaps. Check out this course from GLOBIS Unlimited for a practical demonstration of how it works!

Whether it’s losing your last life against a video game NPC or suffering a disastrous pitch that puts your job on the line, failure stings. It’s natural to worry that we’re going to fail from time to time, and to dread how that failure may reflect on us.

But if you’ve ever wondered, “Why am I a failure?” you’re asking the wrong question.

Having failed doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a failure. The way you respond to failure, however, can make an enormous impact on how you overcome future challenges.

We asked five faculty members at GLOBIS University for their advice on dealing with failure in business and in life. Here’s what they had to say about why failure is good for success (eventually).

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What is “failure,” anyway?

“Fear of failure” quotes are all over the internet. One of the most popular comes from Winston Churchill: “Success is not final. Failure is not fatal.”

But according to Critical Thinking lecturers at GLOBIS University, it’s best to take a step back and think about what “success” and “failure” actually mean. Then ask yourself some critical questions.

Failure is relative.

Words like “failure” and “success” are relative, not absolute.

Alexander Fleming failed to keep his lab equipment clean during a two-week vacation, and as a result discovered penicillin. This discovery is said to have saved up to 200 million lives and unquantifiable human suffering.

Did you ever fail to get a job, or even just miss a train, only to find that it led to another interesting opportunity? Or how about that time your project at work did not go as planned?

What you learn from any “failure” experience may well be what helps you succeed in the future. Today’s failures are often tomorrow’s successes. Only the passage of time and our own actions can determine this.

—Jake Pratley, Critical Thinking Faculty at GLOBIS University

Failure is a sign that something needs to change.

What is the best way to deal with failure? Check your pride at the door and cherish this time as an opportunity to grow (faster than usual, actually).

Admit it, you’ve been stuck in your ways. Failure is life’s gentle way of telling you that you need a new perspective. So take a break if you need one, and reflect on what really happened.

Was it your fault, or beyond your control? What could you have done differently? Did you forget to take anything into account?

Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity, they say. So if you want to move on to something bigger and better, something needs to change. Your task now is to figure out what that change is, and how best to achieve it.

When you treat each failure as a chance to succeed, you’ll look back on these tough times and appreciate them as turning points. failure is a part of life. Make the most of it!

—Brian Cathcart, Critical Thinking Faculty at GLOBIS University

You failed—now what?

Let’s assume you have clarity: You failed, and you know it. But sitting around grumbling will just make you the very definition of a sore loser. What you do next, in the meantime between failures, is how you ensure that failure doesn’t go to waste.

By treating each failure as an opportunity to reflect and grow, you can remove much of the fear that you’re going to fail and look ahead. Here are some recommended actions to help you keep forward momentum.

Balance emotional support with objective review.

Throughout our lives, we tend to develop unique mechanisms to cope with failure. I personally have two: a solid emotional support system and a scientific mindset.

Consider this: A big project you were leading did not go as planned, and as a result your company faced financial loss, your team members got discouraged, and the high hopes or goals you aimed to achieve vanished in an instant.

This kind of failure can weigh down many of us. Even the most optimistic person (I consider myself to be one) can face anxiety, stress, and a feeling of personal defeat. Whenever that happens, the first thing I do is talk to my wife or best friend.

Both are active listeners—that’s important.

Support from others is welcome, but the best support you can give comes from yourself. Over the years, I’ve developed a scientific mindset to help me deal with failure. I observe, analyze, and theorize where things went wrong. Then I determine how I can learn from the experience.

Some of my heroes in the scientific community such as Carl Sagan and Richard Dawkins instilled this sense of thinking and re-thinking. Really, there are three steps:

  1. Admit you were wrong.
  2. Determine what went wrong, specifically.
  3. Challenge your beliefs and create a new path.

Business professionals can learn a lot from scientists. They have a natural curiosity toward new and established things and a willingness to experiment. And they can give us hints to overcome failure, face adversities, and grow.

—Sven Van Stichel, Marketing & Strategy Faculty at GLOBIS University

Let your failure teach you about tolerance.

Failures have taught me how kind and tolerant we can all be to each other at the most difficult moments.

I take pride in being a responsible and capable person in executing any task, both in my personal and professional life. Yet, despite my best efforts, I do fail.

When I fail, I tend to beat myself up for my carelessness and worry about others’ resentment. However, some colleagues and friends have surprised me with their instant forgiveness. They are willing to let go of the incident and help me feel better. They know how imperfect we all are, and they know forgiveness is often the only thing that makes sense.

Those are humbling moments, and they help me regain confidence in myself and the people around me. They make me regret my past intolerance towards others’ failures. Tolerance is one of the best qualities we can develop over time, and failures are the best tool to help us see its sheer importance.

—Megumi Taoka, Accounting & Finance Faculty at GLOBIS University

Pen sitting between two pages that read "Learn from the past" and "Think of the future," indicating why failure is good for success with the right mindset
iStock/benjaminec

Start something new.

My father taught me something important when I was a young student of architecture: When you are facing troubled times, start a new project.

This lesson has ever since been my guiding light. Whenever I feel I have failed, I start a new project. This could be writing or reading, creating or learning, but it’s always something to carry on. To have a project for the future creates hope, and that is something you will need after a failure.

People who talk about hope attract others by inspiring hope. They are like lighthouses, illuminating the future.

It is said that when you face a difficult task, there are two times when you want to quit: The first one is just before starting, and the other just before the finishing line. To make it through the first one, you need hope that you will get through with honor. For the second one, you need hope that you will have strength to finish the journey.

Hope is the courage of life. It’s invisible, just like the future. It gives you the ability to look to the future, to see it, and then to make it happen. If you keep your sights on the horizon, you will never stumble on the small rocks.

Cope with your failures by creating hope through new projects. That will build the basis of your resilience throughout life.

—Dr. Anne Stenros, Creative Leadership Faculty at GLOBIS University

Zoom out to see the big picture.

It is a mistake to assume that failure is good or desirable. Failure hurts us emotionally, often financially, and sometimes entirely in vain. What’s most important is that we turn our attention to the future we can change, rather than the past we cannot.

First ask yourself, “Did I really fail?” If we zoom out on the scale of time, could this situation end up being a blessing in disguise? If so, what should we do to make that happen?

Second, if there is no silver lining, the best we can hope for is a painful lesson. Could we have done anything differently? How can we do better next time?

Failure is something to be avoided when possible. But a complete absence of failure would make our lives—and us, as people—very dull indeed. The best we can do is create successes from our failures. That power lies with us.

—Jake Pratley, Critical Thinking Faculty at GLOBIS University

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