Many of us understand disappointment. It is a part of life and, unfortunately, something we all have to face from time to time.

It can be devastating, crippling, and painful. It can be an emotional roller coaster. It can feel like the world is crashing down and putting all its weight on our shoulders.

Trying to See the Positive

Years ago, I had a situation that, at the time, felt horrible. I was working at a company and my immediate boss left the organization. At first, I felt disappointed. I enjoyed working with him on our team. But I kept an optimistic mindset.

I knew the team and the projects better than anyone in the organization. I had shown progressive leadership for a few years. I had moved into roles with more responsibility. I thought I had a shot at that job when it posted. It would mean a chance to prove my leadership skills and gain even more experience.

But they told me that they weren’t going to replace that role. They would divide his responsibilities among various team members. Their goal was to save money on the expensive role.

When it Rains it Pours

While this was disappointing, I still felt it could end up being a good situation for me. But then came the announcement that they were giving us a newer product that had struggled to get going.

Everyone inside the organization knew of this project. We all knew of the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent with no return. It had already been “relaunched” several times with several different project managers. The project manager role for this product was a revolving door. Whoever was in that role would be gone within 3 months.

Initially we were unsure who would have to work on that project. After a few weeks of back and forth it was decided that I would have to be the one to take on the project. It was pitched to me as, "if anyone could fix it Scott can."

But I knew the truth. The truth was they wanted to give it to someone so they would not be connected to the failed product. Publicly everyone agreed the product could be a success. But nobody believed that.

The board was getting anxious about this project and the wasted money. They still felt the “idea” behind it was good. They wanted me to continue to pursue their idea and keep going with the foundation in place.

This was devastating. Other staff members would come up to me and tilt their head to the side as they said, “I’m so sorry, Scott. This is awful. If I hear of anyone that is hiring, I will pass along your information.” It was almost if I had already been fired.

Finding Opportunity

As I began to dissect the project, I started to realize that there was opportunity there. It was minimal at first but as I worked and worked, I started to see major areas that had potential.

One unexpected thing happened during the start of that project. This organization was notorious for not giving leaders the reigns to make decisions. Instead they would direct the actions and strategy from above. This allowed them to blame the subordinates when it failed. But if a project succeeded, they could jump in and take the credit.

This made it difficult to take hold of something and lead it in the way you feel it should be. It was a sort of sporadic micromanagement. It usually did enough to derail any momentum built up to that point.

Ownership of the Project

But because this project was shaping up to be a huge failure, everyone scurried away from it. The leaders who were in charge of the project made sure to pass any failures on the new “team” leading it (aka me). There was no excitement around this project any longer. People in the organization knew they didn’t want to be connected to it in any way.

While this may seem like a bad thing, I actually found that this gave me the ability to make decisions I felt were best. I didn’t have a group of senior leaders interjecting their thoughts and directives. I was free to do whatever I wanted, as long as it didn’t make them look any worse.

So, I owned it. I decided that I would work my tail off and do whatever I could do to turn the program around.

I simplified it. I took away the complexity that crippled it and focused on the key value components. I threw away everything else. I put together a phased project plan that would leverage key areas.

Then I worked the plan. I met with stakeholders that I needed to meet with and put together plans to take the program where it needed to go. I did everything I could to avoid being a disaster.

Turnaround Brings Recognition

To skip over months and months of hard work, I ultimately turned the program around. I found ways to leverage its value to bring revenue into the organization. I put together monetization strategies and ways to continue to grow the program. I figured out a way to make it work and worked hard enough to actually get it there.

Once I started to get the program turned around, I noticed something interesting. I started to get recognition from inside and outside the organization for my work on it. Leaders from other companies would ask me how I did it and what went into the decisions I made.

An outside company noticed me and after talking to them about this project they offered me a job. They had a similar problem and saw my experience as something that could help them.

I also found out that my name was being thrown around to replace a high-level executive. I ended up not pursing this role since I had accepted the job offer from the outside company. But it showed me how much benefit appeared when turning around a failing program.

Good and Bad Exist Together

It was from this experience that I started to realize that there isn’t good and bad as we usually judge it. The reality is that both exist together, all the time. It is up to us to decide how we respond to situations (good or bad) that will have the biggest impact on our future.

Now when I face adversity, I think of this project. I recall the initial feelings of hopelessness. I remember that there was opportunity there. I didn’t see it at first. I was too concerned with throwing a pity party. But if I had realized the potential, I wouldn’t have had such a difficult time getting this project going.

If you find yourself in a negative situation, remember there is always opportunity. There is always the chance to gain something positive from the experience. Most likely what comes from the event is all about how you respond to it. Do you accept the negative and search for the positive? Do you work through the difficulties with confidence in your abilities? Or do you look for all the reasons to feel sorry for yourself? Your response is all you can control and that is the factor that can take a bad experience and make it good.