Supply Chain Saturday

I was helping someone prep for an interview recently and asked him to walk me through his introduction.

He had a strong background. Bilingual, great education, real work experience. He started telling his story and when he got to a certain chapter, he paused and said something like, “I had some failures along the way.”

I stopped him right there. Not because it was wrong to mention a difficult moment. But because of the word he used. Failure.

Here’s what actually happened. He had been on a competitive sports path that required years of dedication. It was something he had invested a huge part of his identity in. Then he got injured and had to walk away from it. That’s not a small thing. That’s a real loss.

But what he did next is what mattered. He didn’t stop. He redirected all of that energy into his career. He started pursuing internships, building sales experience, teaching himself new skills, and eventually landed in a position where he was connecting executives at some of the largest consulting firms in the world with industry experts. Sure that injury at the time felt like the end of the road, but the truth is he used it and redirected his whole trajectory.

One version makes the interviewer wonder what went wrong. The other makes them lean in and want to hear more.

Here’s what I want you to think about this week.

Every single one of us has had a chapter in their story they’re not sure how to tell. The career switch that feels like starting over. The job that didn’t work out. The degree they didn’t finish. The gap on the resume. Most people either skip over those moments entirely or apologize for them. Both are missed opportunities.

Hiring managers aren’t looking for a perfect path. They’re looking for people who can handle adversity, adapt, and keep moving. And the best way to show that is to tell the story of a time you did exactly that.

Every setback has a setup on the other side of it if you frame it right. The key is to land on what you did next and where it led you. Not what went wrong, but what you built from it.

If you’ve got a chapter in your story you’ve been avoiding, try rewriting it this week. Start with the setback, but spend 80 percent of the story on the redirect. What did you do next? What did it teach you? Where did it take you? That’s the version that belongs in your interview.

I’ll see you next Saturday,
– Mark