I had grown to expect the offering from Wal-Mart for the variety of merchandise and competitive pricing. This is the essence of their brand promise, great selection and low prices. I do not, on the other hand, go to Wal-Mart expecting to receive exceptional customer service, be greeted by name or see a familiar face. Because whether intended or not, that too is part of their brand promise.

Leveraging a theme discussed by Nick a few months ago in his article titled, “Heads We Win, Tails We Don’t Lose Much,” there is a correlation in the view of risk Nick illustrated and how we can look at risk in our businesses, and more importantly, what we can do to skew the curve in our favor.

It’s not a matter of if you will fail, but when failure will be upon you. Knowing this, the challenge then becomes learning how to respond in the face of failure. How you respond in the face of challenge and failure will define your character and whether you succeed, or not. But getting past the failure to get to success? There are no shortcuts. Nor are there any guarantees that you will eventually “get it.”

While I am not a fan of reality TV, I have to confess my devotion to a couple of shows that have an entrepreneurial bent – ABC’s Shark Tank and CNBC’s The Profit. Reality drama aside however, both shows are a study in competency, business model execution, and commitment of the business owner or would-be-entrepreneur. What I have noticed from watching episodes of both shows is a common description Lemonis and the Sharks use to describe someone who is failing; they are someone who just doesn’t get it. At some point I adopted the use of this phrase and have used it to label a condition where the business owner or employee is clearly failing. But what does it really mean, to not get it? And more to the point, what if I’m the one not getting it?