If you didn’t watch the Grammy’s, you may have heard what happened when Adele took the stage for a live presentation of her song “All I Ask”. During her much anticipated appearance, the mic in the piano fell down on to the piano strings, and caused havoc on her performance. She handled it like a pro. In fact, she taught us how to fail with grace.
Whether you didn’t get the job you applied for, or a promotion you thought you’d get or even if you make a mistake during a presentation, learn from Adele on handling failure with grace.
- She knew right away there was a problem, and she continued with her performance
- She explained the facts about what happened “The mic fell on the piano strings”, didn’t whine about it – in fact she made a joke about it: “Some people thought it was Justin Bieber rehearsing, but it wasn’t him.”
- She admitted her vulnerability: “I’m always a bit pitchy anyways.”
- She performed it again, right away on the Ellen show and nailed it.
- She learned from it. “Next time, I’ll just stop and say this isn’t working for me.”
- And she has a great attitude moving forward: “Now, if anything happens, I can say; “Well, it won’t be as bad as the Grammy’s so I can dust it off”.
With her appearance on the Ellen show, I believe she won even more fans because of how she handled herself after the Grammy’s. Chances are, our mistakes will not be on a live stage in front of millions of television viewers. But when we do make a mistake, learn from Adele on how to handle it with grace, and humility, and humor, and professionalism.
From your Adele-loving motivational speaker,
Marilyn Sherman
