The Value in Reframing “Failures” with Sid Astir

Siddharth (Sid) Astir serves as the executive vice president of Team GaryVee at VaynerMedia, where he’s spent the last 10 years shaping one of the world’s most influential personal brands. Beginning his career at VaynerMedia as an intern, Sid is the strategic force behind Gary Vaynerchuk’s global content engine – now followed by more than 45 million people across social platforms.

He leads global content distribution and paid media strategy, driving the GaryVee brand’s reach across the globe and helping to establish it as a blueprint for modern personal branding at scale.

Prior to joining VaynerMedia, Sid managed his family’s multi-million-dollar enterprise, P.K. Astir & Co., in India. He holds an MBA in entrepreneurship and marketing from Babson College and a degree in electrical engineering, allowing him to blend technical knowledge, creative insight, and entrepreneurial strategy within his leadership approach.

Sid sat down with LBB to look back on the moment he learnt he learnt that often mistakes don’t mean failure and they should be seen as a sign of learning and growth.

Very early in my career, a mentor of mine once said: “Only those who work make mistakes.” It’s a saying that’s really changed the way I approach life, and it completely altered how I think about leadership and growth. When something goes wrong, I first focus on how to prevent it from happening again, not who made the mistake.

Mistakes usually mean someone was trying, and that’s always a great place to start. It taught me to see failure as a byproduct of effort and that fear of failure stops more people from starting than failure itself ever could.

It was my first real job in 2009, and I was a graduate trainee engineer at a technology company called Siemens. The advice came from S.K.Zadoo, a department lead in one of the divisions I worked with. I remember being wide-eyed and eager, trying to soak up everything I could about leadership and the working world.

One afternoon, I overheard S.K.Zadoo speaking to a colleague about the saying and how it had shaped his leadership style. He talked about how embracing mistakes made him a better mentor and gave his team room to grow. As someone just starting out, it hit me hard that the best leaders empower people to try, even if it means failing along the way.

Outside of that early advice, the words of wisdom that have most shaped me come from my boss, Gary Vaynerchuk. I’ve worked for him for over a decade, and not a day goes by that I don’t learn something new. One thing that’s always stuck with me is how he prioritises people above everything else. His philosophy of 51/49 – always bringing more value to others than you take – has become a guiding principle in my own career. It’s shaped how I lead, how I collaborate, and how I show up for others every day.

It struck a chord because it reframed how I thought about relationships and leadership. I grew up in a family that deeply valued people. My father ran a business where employees stayed for 30, 40, even 50 years because he treated them like family. Seeing that, and later hearing this advice, reinforced for me that the most meaningful and impactful things are built around humans. When you genuinely care about people, everything else, growth, loyalty, success, follows. That belief has become the foundation of how I approach both work and life.

As I’ve progressed in my career, I’ve realised that intent is what gives that advice real meaning. Making mistakes because you’re experimenting, pushing boundaries, or trying to unlock something new is very different from making mistakes out of carelessness or ego. The key is learning from them. When the intent is good, rooted in curiosity, collaboration, and progress, mistakes become catalysts for growth rather than setbacks.

I usually share this advice when someone on my team makes a mistake and is being hard on themselves or worried about how it will be received. It always lands well, because it reminds people that what matters most is intent. If your intentions are good and you’re genuinely trying to move things forward, a mistake isn’t a failure; it's a sign that you’re learning and growing.