Failing to succeed - sportscaster Wayne Root - Interview

Entrepreneur, July, 1996 by Robert McGarvey

STRAIGHT OUT of college, Wayne Root launched several businesses--and watched each one fold. Not yet out of his 20s, Root's life looked to be a shambles. Expect for one thing. With each failure, he learned a little bit more and finally realized there is joy in failure: "Fail enough, and you will eventually fail your way to the top," says Root today.

His life is proof. With no background in sports broadcasting and with that string of business failures on his resume, Root set his sights on being a national sports broadcaster--and got rejected by hundreds of TV stations. But he persevered until Financial News Network (FNN), a cable network, offered him a job as its weekend sports anchor. From there, he leapfrogged to USA Networks, where he's a regular on "Proline," a weekly sports prognostication show. Just 35 years old, he lives a dream life in a Malibu, California, mansion.

Now he's decided to spread his message of the joy of failure, and companies are eagerly paying him between $5,000 and $15,000 per day to hear his pep talks. He's signed to host a weekly inspirational radio show, and, what's more, he's the author of a new book titled (what else?) The Joy of Failure! (Summit Publishing Group).

"Every time I fail, I know I'm that much closer to the success I want. Don't kid yourself--if you want to win big, you will lose big along the way. That's why my program for turning failure into success is so important for entrepreneurs," says Root. Read on to learn more about his program for success.

Entrepreneur: How can you say there's joy in failure?

Wayne Root: When I tell people I've had businesses that failed and have gone through bankruptcy, they think these are negatives, terrible things. Certainly, nobody wants this to happen--but there is also no question that all those things brought me to the point I am at today. The problems, pain, adversity I experienced have allowed me to live the life of my dreams--and that's why I talk about "The Joy of Failure" and how I've failed my way to the top.

Talking about it lets the millions of people out there who are mired in pain know that 1) you can live through it, and 2) failure can lead to something great. My personal example proves that. So do Steven Jobs, Sly Stallone and Bill Clinton--all have suffered failures, but look where they are today. There are so many great successes who, along the way, had to overcome terrible failure--and that means there's hope for all of us. The root of success is failure.

Entrepreneur: When did this idea click for you?

Root: When I saw my father die. Growing up, what I saw in my father was a man who had no passions. He worked long hours at a job he hated.

Later, when I'd gotten my big break and was a national TV anchorman, I got a call from my father. He had been diagnosed with cancer. As he lay dying, we talked a lot, and I learned how sad he was. His big dream in life was to go around the world, but he actually never went anywhere.

My sadness turned to shock when he told me he was scared for me because I'd had so many failures, so many disappointments. "What is he talking about?" I thought. "I'm on TV, I have a home in Malibu and a wonderful wife." Then, suddenly, it all made sense to me, and I figured out the theme that I wanted to share with the world. It's the reason my father never accomplished hid dreams--he'd been afraid of failure his entire life, so he'd never taken risks.

There are millions of people just like my father. They don't see that by spending their lives afraid of failure, their lives become failures. But when you go out there and risk as I have, you'll have failures along the way, but eventually the result is great success if you are willing to keep risking.

If you want to win big, you have to be prepared to lose big. For every big "yes" in life, there will be 199 "nos." That's how success works, and that's why failure is good.

Entrepreneur: Is attitude the key?

Root: You do need the right attitude--but you need more than that to succeed. This is where so many motivational speakers sell their audiences short. They offer inspiration but not [concrete lessons for] becoming great. So much motivational material is reminiscent of the Nike commercial--"Just Do It!" But if people knew how to do it, they wouldn't need the motivator in the first place! Inspiration may make you feel good, but you've got to be shown how to do it.

Entrepreneur: So where's the beef? How do we turn failure around?

Root: Here's the first step: Develop positive addictions. I say that, and most people say, "Aren't addictions bad?" Well, I want you to know, I'm an addict. I'm a visualization addict--I "see" in my mind positive things occurring in my life, and that's one way I program myself for success. I'm also a goal-planning addict and a healthy diet addict.

Look around America, and you'll discover 90 percent of us need reprogramming. Faced with failure, most people choose addictions to drugs, alcohol, food. They do not turn to the positive addictions that will get them through the bad moments in life.