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How to Get a Return on Failure: Fail Smarter—Return Stronger
Get Ahead – Even When You Lose!
What if you could learn to profit from nearly every loss or misstep in your life, and get a return on it—like an investment?
The most successful people get ahead because they deal with failure positively. Since they know they can’t avoid failure, they make the best of it and gain from it. People who adopt this approach learn to build more substantial and significant success in their lives.
In his new book How to Get a Return on Failure, John Maxwell teaches readers how to turn misses into wins and losses into gains. He creates a positive roadmap anyone can follow during these difficult times and shows how changing your perspective on failure can transform your ability to grow, improve, and move forward.
Failure will always be a part of our lives. We cannot avoid it. But we can leverage it to create a better future for ourselves and others. When we do that, it separates us from the people who let failure stop or defeat them. Follow Maxwell’s advice and you’ll never look at failure the same way again.
What if you could learn to profit from nearly every loss or misstep in your life, and get a return on it—like an investment?
The most successful people get ahead because they deal with failure positively. Since they know they can’t avoid failure, they make the best of it and gain from it. People who adopt this approach learn to build more substantial and significant success in their lives.
In his new book How to Get a Return on Failure, John Maxwell teaches readers how to turn misses into wins and losses into gains. He creates a positive roadmap anyone can follow during these difficult times and shows how changing your perspective on failure can transform your ability to grow, improve, and move forward.
Failure will always be a part of our lives. We cannot avoid it. But we can leverage it to create a better future for ourselves and others. When we do that, it separates us from the people who let failure stop or defeat them. Follow Maxwell’s advice and you’ll never look at failure the same way again.
185 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 14, 2026
About the author
John C. Maxwell
1,098 books6,021 followersJohn Calvin Maxwell is an American author, speaker, and pastor who has written many books, primarily focusing on leadership. Titles include The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. Some of his books have been on the New York Times Best Seller List.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
April 22, 2026
Great concepts and solid perspective on failure!!!!!!
I got a great poem from the book I’ll keep reading too!!!!
I love Maxwell’s writings!!!!!
“I want to help you by defining the reality of failure: Failure will always be a part of your life. You cannot avoid it. But you can leverage it to create a better future for yourself. When you do that, it will separate you from the people who let failure stop or defeat them.“
I got a great poem from the book I’ll keep reading too!!!!
I love Maxwell’s writings!!!!!
“I want to help you by defining the reality of failure: Failure will always be a part of your life. You cannot avoid it. But you can leverage it to create a better future for yourself. When you do that, it will separate you from the people who let failure stop or defeat them.“
May 13, 2026
Quick easy read. Good reminders and encouragement as we all face and even embrace our failures.
July 26, 2026
How to Get a Return on Failure by John C. Maxwell invites readers to stop treating failure as an enemy and instead see it as an investment that can pay real dividends when handled with the right mindset. Maxwell opens by noting that most people instinctively separate success from failure, yet the two belong together. When kept close, failure keeps success humble and teachable, while success gives people the resilience to keep going when failure arrives. This simple shift in perspective turns every setback into potential fuel rather than a dead end.
The book walks through several practical principles that help turn losses into gains. One key idea is learning to distinguish between a good miss and a bad miss. A good miss moves a person forward because it prompts immediate adjustments and new learning. A bad miss, by contrast, leads to excuses and backward movement. Maxwell encourages readers to examine each failure honestly, asking what can be changed rather than why it happened to them. He also stresses the importance of embracing hard. Success rarely comes without difficulty, and those who expect an easy path are often the first to quit when obstacles appear. By accepting that effort and persistence are required, people become more willing to stay in the game long enough for their failures to produce results.
Another central message is the need to anticipate failure rather than be surprised by it. When someone prepares for the possibility of missing the mark, they prepare more thoroughly and respond more quickly when things go wrong. Maxwell illustrates this with stories from his own leadership journey and from people he has mentored, showing how those who plan for setbacks recover faster and keep moving. He also shares the well-known story of the donkey that fell into a well and was buried by its owner’s dirt, only to use each shovelful as a stepping stone to climb out. The lesson is clear: life will keep dumping challenges on everyone, but the choice remains whether to let them bury you or to keep stepping upward.
At the heart of the book is a repeatable process Maxwell calls the success cycle. It consists of five steps that leaders and teams can return to again and again at higher levels. The cycle begins with testing—trying new things without fear of being wrong. Testing naturally leads to failure, which in turn produces learning. The fruit of failure is what a person discovers about themselves and their approach. From that learning comes improvement, where real changes are made. Finally, the person reenters the cycle by testing again, now wiser than before. Maxwell emphasizes that this is not a one-time journey but a continuous loop that compounds growth over time.
Throughout the book Maxwell returns to the idea that leaders have a responsibility to model a healthy relationship with failure for others. When people in authority pretend they never miss, they discourage those around them from taking risks or admitting their own mistakes. By openly sharing what they have learned from failure, leaders create cultures where growth is valued more than perfection. The overall message is hopeful but realistic. Failure is guaranteed, yet it does not have to be final. With the right attitude, clear processes, and a willingness to keep stepping up, anyone can turn their losses into lasting returns.
The book walks through several practical principles that help turn losses into gains. One key idea is learning to distinguish between a good miss and a bad miss. A good miss moves a person forward because it prompts immediate adjustments and new learning. A bad miss, by contrast, leads to excuses and backward movement. Maxwell encourages readers to examine each failure honestly, asking what can be changed rather than why it happened to them. He also stresses the importance of embracing hard. Success rarely comes without difficulty, and those who expect an easy path are often the first to quit when obstacles appear. By accepting that effort and persistence are required, people become more willing to stay in the game long enough for their failures to produce results.
Another central message is the need to anticipate failure rather than be surprised by it. When someone prepares for the possibility of missing the mark, they prepare more thoroughly and respond more quickly when things go wrong. Maxwell illustrates this with stories from his own leadership journey and from people he has mentored, showing how those who plan for setbacks recover faster and keep moving. He also shares the well-known story of the donkey that fell into a well and was buried by its owner’s dirt, only to use each shovelful as a stepping stone to climb out. The lesson is clear: life will keep dumping challenges on everyone, but the choice remains whether to let them bury you or to keep stepping upward.
At the heart of the book is a repeatable process Maxwell calls the success cycle. It consists of five steps that leaders and teams can return to again and again at higher levels. The cycle begins with testing—trying new things without fear of being wrong. Testing naturally leads to failure, which in turn produces learning. The fruit of failure is what a person discovers about themselves and their approach. From that learning comes improvement, where real changes are made. Finally, the person reenters the cycle by testing again, now wiser than before. Maxwell emphasizes that this is not a one-time journey but a continuous loop that compounds growth over time.
Throughout the book Maxwell returns to the idea that leaders have a responsibility to model a healthy relationship with failure for others. When people in authority pretend they never miss, they discourage those around them from taking risks or admitting their own mistakes. By openly sharing what they have learned from failure, leaders create cultures where growth is valued more than perfection. The overall message is hopeful but realistic. Failure is guaranteed, yet it does not have to be final. With the right attitude, clear processes, and a willingness to keep stepping up, anyone can turn their losses into lasting returns.
April 27, 2026
Best-selling leadership author John Maxwell asks what separates successful people from unsuccessful people? His answer is that successful people know how to deal with failure in a positive way so that they get a positive return on failure—an ROI. He tells us that if you want to be as successful as you can be and reach your full potential, you need to learn how to get a return on failure.
Maxwell has written on failure in the past, most notably his 2000 book "Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes Into Stepping Stones for Success". Each chapter of this new book ends with helpful Discussion Questions and Action Steps to implement what was taught in the chapter. These sections are helpful whether you are reading the book individually or with others.
Maxwell asks what if failure is actually necessary for you to become successful, to reach your full potential? He responds that the most successful people succeed because they deal with failure positively.
Among the topics covered in the book are leveraging failure, putting distance between failure and fault, the cycle of success, learning to reject rejection, fear of failure, learning through failure, bad misses and good misses, emphasizing strengths over weaknesses, and leading others through failure.
This is a helpful book on how to deal with failure in a positive way.
Here are 15 helpful quotes from the book:
• Even though you have failed, that doesn’t mean you are a failure.
• Give yourself grace and choose to focus on your ups more than your downs.
• To use failure as an investment in your future, you have to find the benefits in every failure and use them to learn and grow.
• We often miss opportunities because of our fear of failure. But the biggest failure is the failure to start, which is often caused by perfectionism.
• You can let failure beat you down, or you can use failure to make yourself better. The choice is yours.
• Developing character is a never-ending process, and our response to failure is a major determining factor for who we are.
• If you learn—no matter how difficult a time you have or how catastrophic a failure you experience—you will improve. You will become a better person, a better leader, and a better worker in your profession.
• Everything worthwhile is uphill. If you want to get anywhere in life, you will need to accept this truth. It’s the only way you will be able to get a return on failure.
• One of the most important concepts we must accept to get a return on failure is that hard never ends. We must embrace the idea of again.
• Every failure is a learning opportunity. The more you fail, the more you have the potential to learn.
• Bad misses move us backward. But good misses can move us forward when we know how to get a return on them.
• If we want to be successful, we must know our strengths and focus on using and developing them, not our weaknesses.
• Life isn’t about what happens to you. Life is about how you respond to what’s happening to you.
• You need to help others by leading them through failure so they can be successful.
• If you pursue opportunities, you may fail, or you may succeed. But if you don’t pursue opportunities, you will always fail.
Maxwell has written on failure in the past, most notably his 2000 book "Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes Into Stepping Stones for Success". Each chapter of this new book ends with helpful Discussion Questions and Action Steps to implement what was taught in the chapter. These sections are helpful whether you are reading the book individually or with others.
Maxwell asks what if failure is actually necessary for you to become successful, to reach your full potential? He responds that the most successful people succeed because they deal with failure positively.
Among the topics covered in the book are leveraging failure, putting distance between failure and fault, the cycle of success, learning to reject rejection, fear of failure, learning through failure, bad misses and good misses, emphasizing strengths over weaknesses, and leading others through failure.
This is a helpful book on how to deal with failure in a positive way.
Here are 15 helpful quotes from the book:
• Even though you have failed, that doesn’t mean you are a failure.
• Give yourself grace and choose to focus on your ups more than your downs.
• To use failure as an investment in your future, you have to find the benefits in every failure and use them to learn and grow.
• We often miss opportunities because of our fear of failure. But the biggest failure is the failure to start, which is often caused by perfectionism.
• You can let failure beat you down, or you can use failure to make yourself better. The choice is yours.
• Developing character is a never-ending process, and our response to failure is a major determining factor for who we are.
• If you learn—no matter how difficult a time you have or how catastrophic a failure you experience—you will improve. You will become a better person, a better leader, and a better worker in your profession.
• Everything worthwhile is uphill. If you want to get anywhere in life, you will need to accept this truth. It’s the only way you will be able to get a return on failure.
• One of the most important concepts we must accept to get a return on failure is that hard never ends. We must embrace the idea of again.
• Every failure is a learning opportunity. The more you fail, the more you have the potential to learn.
• Bad misses move us backward. But good misses can move us forward when we know how to get a return on them.
• If we want to be successful, we must know our strengths and focus on using and developing them, not our weaknesses.
• Life isn’t about what happens to you. Life is about how you respond to what’s happening to you.
• You need to help others by leading them through failure so they can be successful.
• If you pursue opportunities, you may fail, or you may succeed. But if you don’t pursue opportunities, you will always fail.
August 16, 2026
One of the main ideas I took from this book is that if we want to grow, we have to be willing to make mistakes. If we do nothing, we will probably make fewer mistakes, but we will also miss many opportunities.
For me, the lesson is not only about accepting failure, but about being willing to try more things: meeting new people, looking for new opportunities, having difficult conversations, or simply doing things we sometimes avoid because of fear.
Making mistakes, however, is not enough. The real value of failure comes when we learn from it and change the way we act so we don’t keep repeating the same mistakes.
But perhaps my biggest takeaway from the book is much simpler: reading, thinking, and understanding are not enough. We have to act.
I want to try more things, accept that some of them will not work, learn from those experiences, and try again. In the end, missing an opportunity because we never tried may be a bigger failure than trying and not succeeding.
For me, the lesson is not only about accepting failure, but about being willing to try more things: meeting new people, looking for new opportunities, having difficult conversations, or simply doing things we sometimes avoid because of fear.
Making mistakes, however, is not enough. The real value of failure comes when we learn from it and change the way we act so we don’t keep repeating the same mistakes.
But perhaps my biggest takeaway from the book is much simpler: reading, thinking, and understanding are not enough. We have to act.
I want to try more things, accept that some of them will not work, learn from those experiences, and try again. In the end, missing an opportunity because we never tried may be a bigger failure than trying and not succeeding.
June 28, 2026
Your Best Investment?
Can you imagine being able to capitalize on every mistake, setback, or rough patch in your life and turn it into a real gain? It sounds too good to be true, but that’s precisely the premise John Maxwell puts forward.
We’re often taught to fear failure, to hide it, or to lament when things don’t go as we expected. However, the world’s most successful leaders and individuals share a secret: it’s not that they don’t fail—it’s that they know what to do with that failure. They don’t see it as an end point, but as the seed capital for their next big success.
Can you imagine being able to capitalize on every mistake, setback, or rough patch in your life and turn it into a real gain? It sounds too good to be true, but that’s precisely the premise John Maxwell puts forward.
We’re often taught to fear failure, to hide it, or to lament when things don’t go as we expected. However, the world’s most successful leaders and individuals share a secret: it’s not that they don’t fail—it’s that they know what to do with that failure. They don’t see it as an end point, but as the seed capital for their next big success.
June 18, 2026
This book was a great energy boost, it will lift you up to fail, and it will introduce you to a new point of view. The author has structured the book in a very interesting way, there are different mindsets and also short positive aspects that will guide you one step at a time to see how everything that happens to you is for you to make you a better person. It was great reading it and exploring a different point of view.
June 18, 2026
Every one of us will have to deal with failure at some point. What sets some people apart, though, is that they regard failure as an opportunity. This is not an easy mindset to get into, but this book will help you learn how to do it.
In it, you will find many tips that will show you how to spin negativity into positivity. Leveraging failure might be tricky, but it is absolutely possible, and once you’ve learned how to do it, don’t be surprised if your entire life becomes easier to manage.
In it, you will find many tips that will show you how to spin negativity into positivity. Leveraging failure might be tricky, but it is absolutely possible, and once you’ve learned how to do it, don’t be surprised if your entire life becomes easier to manage.
August 9, 2026
Must Read
Really good book. The author stresses that failure and success are two sides of the same coin. That successful people deal with failure in a positive way, so they get a positive return on failure. It's about reflecting, learning from your mistakes, and improving. Failing is a good thing! This book explains the proper way to view it. Many good quotes and a great examples. I highly recommend reading.
Really good book. The author stresses that failure and success are two sides of the same coin. That successful people deal with failure in a positive way, so they get a positive return on failure. It's about reflecting, learning from your mistakes, and improving. Failing is a good thing! This book explains the proper way to view it. Many good quotes and a great examples. I highly recommend reading.
June 29, 2026
I chose this book because failure is something I have had to deal with in my own life. One valuable idea I found was the difference between good misses and bad misses. It made me think about my career and studies, and how some things that once felt like failures actually taught me a lot about myself. The book helped me put a name to those moments and see them as part of becoming who I am today.
July 21, 2026
In a lot of ways, it feels like this was a gathering of nuggets from his previous works. I found it to be a great reminder, very reassuring and encouraging. This is a book I plan to put into the hands of a number of young people in my life, as it's certainly something I wish someone had it explained to me when I was young...
September 28, 2026
I appreciate the simplicity of Maxwell's books, and always pull out a few key ideas that resonate, but I found this one repetitive. Would suggest treating like a textbook, skimming to parts that seem most interesting. Would recommend to any fellow recovering perfectionists or individuals who want to live a little bigger!
May 12, 2026
Another one I read for work. I often find John Maxwell repetitive and over explanatory. This was no different for me.
I appreciate the concept and being able to learn from failure. However, it could’ve been a one page document vs a whole book.
I appreciate the concept and being able to learn from failure. However, it could’ve been a one page document vs a whole book.
June 11, 2026
The book is like many leadership books, full of principles that need to be applied to the real world. A world 100 times more difficult and messy than the book makes it out to be. He is to the point and confident that failure does not have to be an end to one's leadership.
June 21, 2026
Great book for mature leaders. This book does an outstanding job helping even your most “seasoned” leaders have a safe place to identify his/her relationship with failure. Then the book helps you to use those failures and shortcomings to be the most effective leader possible.
June 23, 2026
Failure is not final
Through relatable stories and actionable principles Maxwell shows that failure is not the end but a valuable teacher when approached with humility, resilience, and willingness to learn!
Through relatable stories and actionable principles Maxwell shows that failure is not the end but a valuable teacher when approached with humility, resilience, and willingness to learn!
April 13, 2026
Excellent book as always. Real strategies for improving on failure and getting positive returns in mistakes.
May 7, 2026
Disappointed… Never!
I have yet to read a Maxwell book where I have never learned anything. Always informative, always learning ways to lead when I read his books!
I have yet to read a Maxwell book where I have never learned anything. Always informative, always learning ways to lead when I read his books!
May 11, 2026
John C. Maxwell continues to author great books. Failure is a part of life like success is. Learning to accept and learn from failure is most important.
May 31, 2026
Great principles, well written. Not his best, but even at the level, it’s a pretty good read.
June 8, 2026
Excellent
Very clear and encouraging book, I recommend to everyone that want to learn how to deal with failure.
It a very powerful and useful resource
Very clear and encouraging book, I recommend to everyone that want to learn how to deal with failure.
It a very powerful and useful resource
June 22, 2026
Great perspective on how to look at “failing.” Would definitely recommend to someone who is feeling discouraged or scared to take a risk!
August 6, 2026
Good book
August 13, 2026
Excellent. A must read.
August 14, 2026
Right book at the right time. Good stuff.
August 22, 2026
As always, a classic
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews