Failure can be a powerful teacher—if you process it carefully and wring all the juice out of it. Here are 5 steps for turning failure to your advantage.

The last question Dean Bradford of Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management asked me was this: “What two things would you say to our students, particularly those who are graduating and about to enter the workplace?” I gave him the two answers he requested, but, upon further reflection, I would like to add a third.