I had one of my college buds visit recently, to pay annual birthday homage and check on my rehab. Because we couldn’t golf, and the weather was just too perfect to spend indoors, we decided to go fishing. This was a magnanimous gesture on my buddy’s part. To put it mildly, fishing is not one of his fortes.
I think much of the reluctance to deal with failure stems from the tendency to focus on who failed, rather than what failed. When failure is viewed as a problem, we look to blame someone for that problem, and that can be uncomfortable. As it should be. If anything, people who dare to try and fail should be the model.
We seem to have a problem with our success-only paradigm. I remember reading, ages ago, about someone whose plan cost the company, let's say, a million dollars. When he was called to the boss's office, he knew what was going to happen. He walked into the office, and the boss started talking about planning for the next venture. Finally the employee asked "Aren't you going to fire me?" "Fire you? I just spent a million training you!" No one is a 100% success--and if one exists, I don't want to meet him.
Cutting bait
I think much of the reluctance to deal with failure stems from the tendency to focus on who failed, rather than what failed. When failure is viewed as a problem, we look to blame someone for that problem, and that can be uncomfortable. As it should be. If anything, people who dare to try and fail should be the model.
We seem to have a problem with our success-only paradigm. I remember reading, ages ago, about someone whose plan cost the company, let's say, a million dollars. When he was called to the boss's office, he knew what was going to happen. He walked into the office, and the boss started talking about planning for the next venture. Finally the employee asked "Aren't you going to fire me?" "Fire you? I just spent a million training you!" No one is a 100% success--and if one exists, I don't want to meet him.