i There has been a uptick on people feeling shame and embarrassment in failing in public.

As long as you're not persona non grata for very bad reasons, chin up.

I was in a mentoring program a few weeks ago, this question popped up  from a group of passionate social venture founders. 

This amazed me because the group is doing good doing the right things.

When this question came up, I thought that it's one of these few factors.

Self-esteem issue and the need to be validated publicly. If no validation comes in, the down-side of too much introspection kicks in and putting blame on oneself needlessly becomes the go-to.

There's too much sharing in the public sphere. If you're working on some new schemes or pivots, the world has no business knowing, except those few people who should be informed.

Shame is a sign that there must be something we have done wrong either by commission or omission. If it's about failure or missing the mark as a business person or career professional without being criminally liable or being in the wrong of side of professional conduct, there's no need for this unhealthy feeling.

As what I've heard lately from the social media grapevine,

"This issue doesn't care about your feelings."

"The world doesn't care about what you feel." 

"Your feelings are not you." 

I may add to these too.

"Your feelings do not reflect who you are as a person and what you are capable of achieving "

Stop feeling ashamed by failing.

​Get used to it. 

No one's making a tally. 

Chin up. 

​I was interviewed for a teaching post a few weeks ago and I'm not criticizing for the sake of criticizing.

It was one of those interviews that you can go to sleep and be woken up by the fact that it's done before you know it.

You must be curious at least.

You must be excited meeting new people especially those who can be suitable candidates, and eventually your future staff or employees, right?

You must at least show interest.

No energy.

No creativity.

No passion.

No curiosity.

NADA.

They take turns.

They asked, listened, took some notes.

They have a ten questions to go through. Very standard.

Time is of the essence.

"Let's get this going," so they said.

A little nod, a little explanation.

"Do you have questions for us?"

"Okay, thanks very much."

I have a few guesses in my mind on why, but I won't elaborate.

Let's give them the benefit of the doubt.

I want to congratulate them for showing how they are at work and their organization for me to assess them in return. 

No, thank you! 

​Some of these false narratives that I heard lately include: 

If you're not scaling up, you're not growing.
Growth doesn't mean scaling up.
Scaling up doesn't mean profitable growth, competency growth, and growing sustainably.
Don't obsess about scaling up when your current systems are broken and needs fixing.  

This is too much for a non-profit organization to ask. 
Leadership development is not too much. Being sustainable financially is key to survival and thriving is never too much to ask. It's not too much when a little step in the right direction is always something that can be done.

We have to stand for Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion.
Yes but not its extreme ideological wokism, which created more harm in communities, pitted people against each other, and invoked guilt and shame to the white people, as if it's their fault that they're born white is not cool. Guilting others is not a good foundation for accountability and responsibility, either. 

The removal of meritocracy leads to equity.
It doesn't. It leads to nepotism and dynasty (Woodbridge).We need more meritocracy, not less meritocracy to tackle the problems we faced in our institutions. 

Information is truth.
Information is just information. The interpretation, scope, and manufacturing of information could lead to truth or untruth. Think Facebook Algorithms' fuelling the Rohingya crisis.

Those who voted for Trump are pro-Nazis.
Wait, this is getting too much. Are you really sure what you're talking about? Those who voted for Trump deserve some respect too. They have a different opinion on American society and they use the power of the vote to make things happen the way they see it. Move on. 

We live in the dark age of misinformation and untruths. These narratives are insidiously wrong, pretending to be right or pandering to a set of agenda unceasingly. Wake up! Check out the messenger, the intentions and the motives behind.

If it doesn't sound right, it could be a lie. Wake up!