Certainly Can Podcast

On the surface, learning things the hard way may seem like a character flaw. But what if that willingness to try and fail and figure it out along the way is actually a great strength? What if the ability to learn from our mistakes is much more important than the mistakes themselves?

Anthony James is the Founder and CEO of Linux Academy, the #1 learn-by-doing cloud training platform. In the last three years before Linux was acquired by acloud.guru, it grew from a $5.2M annual run rate in 2017 to $12.3M in 2018 and $21.3M in 2019, earning the top spot on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing education companies in the US. Today, Anthony is helping others achieve their goals as an angel investor.  And he also happens to be my brother.

On this episode of Certainly Can, Anthony joins me to explain why our response to failure is more important than the failure itself, exploring the benefit to his learn-the-hard-way approach to trying new things. He reflects on how standing firm in his values and doing work he is passionate about contribute to his continued success. Listen in for Anthony’s insight around what it really means to ‘fail fast’ and learn how YOU can leverage your mistakes to do better the next time around!

Key Takeaways

How breaking his leg in middle school helped Anthony discover his passion

Why our response to failure is more important than the failure itself

The benefit of Anthony’s learn-the-hard-way approach to trying new things

How to prioritize your personal values over what other people think

Why failures and poor decisions drove Anthony to continue to do better

Anthony’s insight around what it really means to ‘fail fast’

How to focus your energy on learning from your moments of failure

How Anthony was shaped by our parent’s approach to discipline

Connect with Dennis

Dennis on Twitter

Connect with Anthony

Anthony on LinkedIn

Resources

Linux Academy