# FAILING AT WORK and how to deal with it - Business English vocabulary lesson.

An episode of [Breakout Business English - Improve your vocabulary and confidence using English at work.](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1616739393), 7 Jul 2025, 26 min.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2022761/episodes/17460785-failing-at-work-and-how-to-deal-with-it-business-english-vocabulary-lesson.mp3

Send us Fan Mail Are you a professional who uses English as a second language at work? Do you want to feel more confident, fluent, and natural in business conversations? Join Business English Coach Chris in this episode of the Breakout Business English podcast as we explore how to talk about failure, responsibility, and consequences in a professional setting – all in clear, natural English. You'll learn essential workplace vocabulary and phrases like “inevitable,” “in the grand scheme of things,” “ramifications,” “on my watch,” “pass the buck,” and more. Chris also breaks down real-world examples, common expressions, and cultural references to help you speak English more effectively and confidently at work. Whether you're preparing for meetings, presentations, or daily conversations with international colleagues, this episode gives you the tools to communicate clearly and professionally when things go wrong. Do you want to work with me to improve your English? Click here: https://www.breakoutbusinessenglish.com Do you want me to analyse your English on YouTube? Contact me here: https://www.breakoutbusinessenglish.com/contact Do you want to see what I do? Click here: https://youtu.be/K8MsvDdV1vI?si=SuW_o2Vacqn9olDT Also, if you're studying for the IELTS, TOEFL, or Cambridge English tests and exams then you might find some of the vocabulary in this episode really useful. This podcast is all about helping you to communicate better, in English, at work. I work with international English speakers from around the world who use English, at work, as a second or third language and I hope that I can bring some of the ideas, vocabulary, and grammar, from those sessions, to you in this podcast. Don’t forget that my full time job is helping international professionals who use English at work to improve their communication skills. So, if you need English to do your job but don’t speak it natively then maybe we can work together to help you to achieve your language goals. -------- Today's examples: Failure is an inevitable part of any career. If you're not failing then you're not trying. In the grand scheme of things this is not the end of the world. This will likely have ramifications beyond just our team. It’ll likely impact the whole company. This happened on my watch so I'm accountable for everything that went wrong. I have no intention of passing the buck. This was my responsibility and the buck stops with me. I overlooked some key variables and that’s entirely on me. Support the show Book a coaching session with me at: https://www.breakoutbusinessenglish.com

## Transcript

Welcome to the Breakout Business English podcast, where I help you to communicate better with work. In. Hi everyone, my name is Chris and I'm a Business English coach. I've personally worked with over 1,000 international professionals to improve. Their English communication skills. Thank you so much for listening. And... Today's topic: is Dealing With Failure. Today we're going to look at some key ideas around failure and failing in professional life, as well as some great vocabulary that we can use to discuss these ideas and to express our feelings on failure with our colleagues.So let's get started. There are many quotes from business leaders and successful people in general about how important failure is as a part of career growth. Many people have argued that in order to really grow and be successful in any career or field, you must first experience and learn from failure. For instance, let's take a quote from the author of the Harry Potter series of books, J.K. Rowling. He said, It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously. That you might as well not have lived at all. In which case, you have failed by default. You have failed by default. That's an interesting phrase, you have failed by default that.So, what do we mean if we say that something happened by default? If something happens by default, it happens only because something else which might have prevented it or changed it has not happened. Let's say for instance you want to start working with me. I'll usually ask you if you'd like to use Microsoft Teams or Google Meet or maybe Zoom for our meetings. If you don't reply, then I'll send you a Zoom link. That's the default for our meetings. If nothing happens to change it, then I'll be waiting for you in a Zoom meeting. Or, Let's say for instance that you want a recording of one of our sessions. I might tell you that you need to specifically ask me for that because I don't record our meetings by default. However, if you

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