You will fail. It's inevitable, so you might as well begin preparing for it now. The failure may be small, like, say, making a mistake on a client engagement. Or it may be quite grand, like losing a job you valued. How you handle that failure can raise or lower the risks of failing again — and shape your legacy as a leader.
Some people handle these setbacks well. Others not so well. In my work, I've observed several common themes among those leaders who tend to cope particularly effectively with the inescapable.
Acknowledge the failure and put it in perspective. You can't begin to bounce back from a mistake if you don't admit you've made it. As obvious as it sounds, it's clearly not always easy to do. Research shows that owning up to their mistakes is the key factor separating those who handle failure well from those who don't. Those who were derailed perseverated and didn't talk to others about it. They made little attempt to rectify the consequences. Those who weren't derailed did the opposite: They admitted their mistakes, accepted responsibility, and then took steps to fix the problem. And afterwards, they proceeded to forget about it and move on.
Look for causes, not blame. If you've caused a problem, the good news is that you have control over that cause. By focusing on finding the cause(s), rather than assigning blame (with all the value judgments that go with that), you take control and move to prevent similar failures from happening again. Thinking in terms of causes rather than blame is similar to adopting what Carol Dweck describes as a "growth-oriented" rather than a "fixed" mind-set. A fixed mind-set tends to leave us helpless and ready to wilt in the face of a challenge. A growth mind-set puts us in a position to press on toward success.
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