Failure to Success

Tough Things First

Failure happens. But is it really a failure if you learn something valuable? In this Tough Things First podcast, Ray Zinn discusses how a few business failures paved the way to a massively successful semiconductor company.

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Rob Artigo: Here with me is Ray Zinn, the longest-serving CEO in Silicon Valley history. Being invited back is always great, Ray.

Ray Zinn: Hey, Rob, every day is a good day when I get to do a podcast with you.

Rob Artigo: Oh, I appreciate that. Of course, it’s fun and we have great conversations. So you ran a very successful semiconductor business for 37 years, Micrel, but before you did that, you had a couple of failed business ventures that had to be disappointing and emotionally taxing, but you used those experiences as motivation to find something bigger and better.

Ray Zinn: Absolutely.

Ray Zinn cont: You win by trying. You don’t win by not doing anything. I’m reminded of this fellow that was a marathoner, well, he was trying to be a marathoner. And he was running his race, his marathon, and his dad had recently passed away. And he was running the marathon, but he was having trouble maintaining his pace. And he would stumble and fall, and he was thinking, “Oh, I’m falling so far behind.” He was ready to give up. And then he’d hear his dad saying, “Hey, son, get up and start. Keep going.” He’d get up and start going again. And then again, he’d slow down. He would put his hands on his knees and then just say, “I’m done. I just can’t do it.” And then he’d hear his dad’s voice in his head saying, “Son, keep going. Don’t stop. Keep going.”

Anyway, when the race was over, he didn’t finish anywhere near the front. He finished at the back of the pack, but he finished. In other words, he didn’t just say, “I’m done. I can’t do it anymore.” And he kept going. And that’s what it is with any venture you start or attempt, don’t start it if you’re not going to finish it. And so in my case, I had three other businesses that I started before I started Micrel, but they led me to starting my company, Micrel, my more successful business. So they were stepping stones.

In other words, it’s kind of like you’re going from point A to point B, and you just draw out a path, and maybe it’s not perfectly straight. You maybe have some deviations, but you keep on the path, as you would. And that’s what I did is, even though I wasn’t successful in three of my businesses, it didn’t prevent me from being successful in my fourth. So as they say, if you at first don’t succeed, try, try again. And that’s what I did. I just kept trying.

But I looked back on my work history and the companies I started, and actually motivationally, I learned from each one. Each one that I started helped me. And when I finally got with my fourth one, which was Micrel semiconductor, it really got me to where I am. And so I don’t look at falling down as failure. I look at falling down as a learning process. Even though I was thinking at times, “Hey, I’m going to go get another job. I can’t be starting these companies and failing. It’s been costly to my family and costly to me personally, financially.” So I was ready to just throw in the towel, but I didn’t. I just said, “Let’s move on. Let’s move on.” And so that’s what I call this series of just moving on.

Rob Artigo: Looking around on the internet, I found some suggestions on how entrepreneurs who find themselves in this situation, how they should perhaps react to what’s going on, obviously using it as motivation. But let’s see if you agree with these. There’s three points here. But the first one is if you have a failed venture, not get disappointed, but you have to face the situation head on. Is that pretty accurate?

Ray Zinn: Yeah, that’s exactly right. You can’t face it on rear on. So that’s rear-facing, not front-facing.

Rob Artigo: Right. And then looking back, it should be a matter of drawing from it what you’ve learned from the experience, right?

Ray Zinn: Right. Don’t argue yourself into the ground by looking backwards. Face it on. Face it, which means looking forward.

Rob Artigo: And here’s one that I figure you might have an issue with because it’s not in your nature to get mad about something, but it says, “If you find yourself in this situation, let it make you angry.”

Ray Zinn: Well, that term of anger is what we call righteous anger as opposed to negative anger. So righteous anger is okay. In other words, if you’re saying, “Listen, I think I can do better than this,” and then you get upset with yourself, and you maybe give yourself a good tongue lashing, that’s righteous anger. Don’t be satisfied with mediocrity. Get angry with yourself about that. But don’t get angry with others. Get angry with yourself. That’s what that means.

Rob Artigo: The last one here is reframe it as a gap to close. So it says, “Every letdown shows you where you’re not yet good enough.” Maybe it’s skills, network, or whatever, but it shows you where you lack something. Is that true?

Ray Zinn: Well, I just talked about that before you started that list that you read off from the internet. I said I started three different businesses before I started Micrel, and each failed business led me to where I succeeded. Failure only becomes failure when you don’t learn from it. So I call it a learning process, not a failing process.

Rob Artigo: And also, I want to point out to the listeners that your new book, The Essential Leader, 10 Skills, Attributes, and Fundamentals That Make Up the Essential Leader, the first chapter, it’s about try, try again. You mentioned that at the beginning of your comments here, but you modify that to say, “Try, try again, but …” And what you’re saying is make sure that you don’t fail next time the same way you failed this time.

Ray Zinn: Well, repeating the same mistake over and over and expecting a different result is stupidity. So don’t be stupid. Don’t make the same mistake over and over thinking you’re learning. You’re not. You have to learn from your mistakes.

Rob Artigo: Well, join the conversation at toughthingsfirst.com. If you have questions for Ray, you can ask him there, and he’ll get back to you. Your questions and comments, of course, are always welcome. You can follow Ray on social media, there’s X, Facebook and LinkedIn. And Ray’s books are out there. I just mentioned The Essential Leader. There’s also Tough Things First and the Zen of Zinn, series one, two, and three. Thanks, Ray.

Ray Zinn: Thanks, Rob.