How to Get a Return on Failure: Fail Smarter—Return Stronger

Get Ahead – Even When You Lose!

What if you could learn to profit from nearly every loss or misstep in your life, and get a return on it—like an investment?

The most successful people get ahead because they deal with failure positively. Since they know they can’t avoid failure, they make the best of it and gain from it. People who adopt this approach learn to build more substantial and significant success in their lives.

In his new book How to Get a Return on Failure, John Maxwell teaches readers how to turn misses into wins and losses into gains. He creates a positive roadmap anyone can follow during these difficult times and shows how changing your perspective on failure can transform your ability to grow, improve, and move forward.

Failure will always be a part of our lives. We cannot avoid it. But we can leverage it to create a better future for ourselves and others. When we do that, it separates us from the people who let failure stop or defeat them. Follow Maxwell’s advice and you’ll never look at failure the same way again.

John C. Maxwell, the #1 New York Times bestselling author, coach, and speaker who has sold more than 40 million books, has been identified as the #1 leader in business by the American Management Association® and the world’s most influential leadership expert by Business Insider and Inc. magazine. Dr. Maxwell has also received the Horatio Alger Award, as well as the Mother Teresa Prize for Global Peace and Leadership from the Luminary Leadership Network. His organizations—Maxwell Leadership, EQUIP, and the Maxwell Leadership Foundation—have trained millions of leaders from every nation in the world.

How to Get a Return on Failure by John C. Maxwell invites readers to stop treating failure as an enemy and instead see it as an investment that can pay real dividends when handled with the right mindset. Maxwell opens by noting that most people instinctively separate success from failure, yet the two belong together. When kept close, failure keeps success humble and teachable, while success gives people the resilience to keep going when failure arrives. This simple shift in perspective turns every setback into potential fuel rather than a dead end.

The book walks through several practical principles that help turn losses into gains. One key idea is learning to distinguish between a good miss and a bad miss. A good miss moves a person forward because it prompts immediate adjustments and new learning. A bad miss, by contrast, leads to excuses and backward movement. Maxwell encourages readers to examine each failure honestly, asking what can be changed rather than why it happened to them. He also stresses the importance of embracing hard. Success rarely comes without difficulty, and those who expect an easy path are often the first to quit when obstacles appear. By accepting that effort and persistence are required, people become more willing to stay in the game long enough for their failures to produce results.

Another central message is the need to anticipate failure rather than be surprised by it. When someone prepares for the possibility of missing the mark, they prepare more thoroughly and respond more quickly when things go wrong. Maxwell illustrates this with stories from his own leadership journey and from people he has mentored, showing how those who plan for setbacks recover faster and keep moving. He also shares the well-known story of the donkey that fell into a well and was buried by its owner’s dirt, only to use each shovelful as a stepping stone to climb out. The lesson is clear: life will keep dumping challenges on everyone, but the choice remains whether to let them bury you or to keep stepping upward.

At the heart of the book is a repeatable process Maxwell calls the success cycle. It consists of five steps that leaders and teams can return to again and again at higher levels. The cycle begins with testing—trying new things without fear of being wrong. Testing naturally leads to failure, which in turn produces learning. The fruit of failure is what a person discovers about themselves and their approach. From that learning comes improvement, where real changes are made. Finally, the person reenters the cycle by testing again, now wiser than before. Maxwell emphasizes that this is not a one-time journey but a continuous loop that compounds growth over time.

Throughout the book Maxwell returns to the idea that leaders have a responsibility to model a healthy relationship with failure for others. When people in authority pretend they never miss, they discourage those around them from taking risks or admitting their own mistakes. By openly sharing what they have learned from failure, leaders create cultures where growth is valued more than perfection. The overall message is hopeful but realistic. Failure is guaranteed, yet it does not have to be final. With the right attitude, clear processes, and a willingness to keep stepping up, anyone can turn their losses into lasting returns.