Is this a dangling participle? If so, is there a way to fix the first clause to eliminate the dangling participle? Should I add the word “When”? Or is it okay as is?
Confronted with failure on a regular basis, how business professionals respond to failure dictates whether they’ll ultimately achieve success.
To illustrate this, I am going to rewrite the sentence slightly:
Confronted with failure on a regular basis, [the method by which] business professionals respond to failure dictates...
In this sentence, "how..." is your subject (a noun clause) and "dictates" is your predicate. As written you are saying that the way business professionals respond is confronted with failure. I imagine you want to have "confronted with failure on a regular basis" modify the business professionals, so here is a rewrite to illustrate that:
How business professionals, confronted with failure on a regular basis, respond to failure dictates...
Now it is more accurate, but reads a bit choppily. Here are some alternates that sound better (in my opinion):
As business professionals are confronted with failure on a regular basis, how they respond to failure dictates...
This one places the noun and predicate our front as its own clause. You could also:
How business professionals, who are confronted with failure on a regular basis, respond to failure dictates...
Finishing the dependent clause with "who are" rather leaving it implicit makes it less choppy in my opinion.
