Episode Summary

Podcast: Work with Erika Ayers Badan
Host: Erika Ayers Badan
Episode: Your Company Is Going to Fail. Know How To Land On Your Feet
Date: January 7, 2026

Overview:

This episode is an unfiltered, deeply personal monologue where Erika Ayers Badan shares hard-earned wisdom on navigating professional failure and company collapse. Drawing from a particularly difficult month in her own career, Erika reframes failure as a universal and invaluable learning experience. Through candid insights and practical strategies, she encourages listeners not just to survive upheaval in their careers, but to land on their feet—building resilience, self-awareness, and momentum for future success.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Rebounding Is the Essential Corporate Skill

• [00:00] Erika opens by declaring that in today’s workplace climate, “the best corporate skill set you can have right now is the ability to rebound.”
• The skyrocketing prevalence of company upheavals, layoffs, and failures is the “new normal.”
• It’s less about preventing disaster and more about controlling your response: “what you can control is how you land on your feet.”

2. Failure Happens—And That’s Normal

• [01:09] Erika recounts experiencing “the shittiest month in my career,” underscoring that setbacks are universal.
• Key insight: “Failure is a great thing. It is such an intense teacher, and that’s such a gift because it forces you to learn and feel and act simultaneously. And it is a mega, mega accelerant.” ([01:42])
• Rather than hiding from failure, Erika advocates for embracing and speaking openly about it—she shares her own reluctance, then resolve, to post a candid Substack about her recent experiences.

3. Reject Victimhood—Take Ownership

• [03:33] “If you blame everyone else, if you’re a victim to what everyone else does or wants or thinks, you are never going to be able to steel yourself to land on your own feet in a direction that you want to go.”
• Professional missteps are collective and systemic as much as personal; the important thing is owning your part and focusing on the controllables.

4. Start Small—Do the Little Things Well

• Amid crisis, paralysis and disorientation are natural.
• Strategy: “If you just put one foot in front of the other and you focus on the small things and you do the small things well… you find yourself. It’s like little by little becomes a lot. Like, you find yourself in a good, right place.” ([05:45])
• Seek out advice from people “infinitely smarter than me” and consistently contribute in small, positive ways.

5. Don’t Be Rash—Avoid Immediate Reactions

• “Trying to avoid being rash is really important.” ([07:00])
• Inflammatory or impulsive actions, especially ones shared online, can have lasting negative consequences:
  • “The people ingesting it will remember.” ([08:02])
• Silence and patience yield more options than dramatic or emotional outbursts. Erika advises sleeping on big decisions and not letting a temporary emotion dictate permanent consequences.

6. The Myth of the Urgent Next Step

• The pressure to “figure out what I’m going to do next” is intense but often counterproductive post-failure.
• “That’s the single worst thing I could do.” ([10:50])
• Instead, centering yourself, keeping integrity with those around you, and staying calm set the groundwork for a strong rebound.

7. Learning to Fall—and Get Up Again

• The inevitability of mistakes and setbacks doesn’t diminish your value; what matters is how you recover:
  • “The single best thing that you can do is to remember you’re going to land on your feet and do whatever you need to to make sure you’re standing up when you fall.” ([12:00])
• Repeatedly falling and getting up breeds “so, so much stronger” professionals in the long run.

8. Perspective: Focus on ‘What Could Be’

• Let go of the past (“there really isn’t any ‘was’”) and focus on future possibilities.
  • “Being able to have clarity of mind to the could be and being able to have persistence and the diligence of action to get there, I think, is one of the greatest, greatest things you can take with you.” ([14:09])

9. An Exercise for the Year: Treat Life as a Movie

• [15:10] Inspired by another podcast, Erika offers a reflective tool:
  • “If your life was a movie and your career was a movie, what are people screaming right now? … And then also be deliberate and thoughtful and graceful and persistent in what you want to achieve, irrespective of if your company’s going gangbusters or if your company’s a disaster.”
• The only true domain of control is “how you step through it.”

10. Small Acts, Consistently Done, Build Resilience

• Recalling a personal mantra: “Mine was showing up. Like sticking to your guns on that is actually the little thing that’s going to propel you through it.” ([17:20])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On normalizing failure:
  • “Failure happens to everybody. I wrote a whole book on it. Failure is a great thing. … It is a mega, mega accelerant.” ([01:19])
• On personal responsibility:
  • “Did I contribute to things that went wrong at this company? 1 million percent.” ([03:23])
• On resisting victimhood:
  • “If you blame everyone else… you are never going to be able to steel yourself to land on your own feet in a direction that you want to go.” ([03:40])
• On focusing on the small things:
  • “If you just put one foot in front of the other and you focus on the small things…and you contribute in whatever way you can, you find yourself.” ([05:45])
• On immediate reaction:
  • “Silence makes no mistakes. And when you take a beat, you take a breath, you take a night’s sleep…It really actually behooves you much better…” ([09:45])
• On future focus:
  • “There really isn’t any was. And it’s really just about what could be.” ([14:27])
• On persistence:
  • “Sticking to your guns … is actually the little thing that’s going to propel you through it.” ([17:20])

Important Segment Timestamps

• 00:00–01:19: Rebounding as the essential workplace skill; the new normal of instability
• 01:19–03:40: Accepting failure as a universal experience; taking responsibility
• 03:40–05:45: Don’t be a victim; own your part; managing small tasks during hardship
• 05:45–08:02: Focus on small wins, surround yourself with good advice
• 08:02–10:50: The dangers of rashness; avoid immediate reactions
• 10:50–14:27: Managing pressure to “figure out the next step”; future-focused resilience
• 15:10–17:20: “Movie audience” exercise for self-reflection; consistent small acts; closing messages

Final Message

Erika closes on a note of encouragement, reminding listeners that while failure is inevitable, the capacity to land on your feet—and the choices you make in the aftermath—matter most. “Good luck with your failure, great luck landing on your feet, and we will see you back here on Sunday with more good stuff.” ([18:10])