The virtue of failure

My first commencement speech, as valedictorian of a small high school in Columbus, Georgia, was a catastrophic failure. As almost every first-time commencement speaker, I was convinced the opportunity to address my classmates and their families and friends represented my chance to change the world. In a written draft I waxed elegant about our generation’s “unique” opportunities and advantages, and I carefully crafted passages to make the audience laugh and cry.

Then a funny thing happened. Our salutatorian gave an almost identical speech and in the middle of the ceremony, and I began to question the validity of my own statements. My mind racing as she parsed through her carefully prepared remarks, I worked out a plan to change my speech on the spot. When I stood up to talk, I began by reading from my prepared draft, then, in the midst of speaking, I crumpled my draft at the podium, stopped talking, and tossed the paper containing my “eloquent” musings somewhere into a potted plant behind me and to the left.

I don’t have to tell you, the impromptu speech that followed was not a monumental success. Faced with several hundred expectant faces and the bright lights of the stage, the only topic I could think of was “fear”; and ten minutes later, there wasn’t a person in the audience who hadn’t experienced the fear that another student speaker was waiting in the wings.

In spite of that failure, however, I count my commencement speech, at least partially, a success. I failed that night because I took a chance at the last moment, and that failure did more to teach me about my future adventures in public speaking than any widely applauded address I’ve given. It wasn’t the first or last time I failed at something, and sometime around my sophomore year of college I realized that all those failures were and are a good thing. Failure itself is not the catastrophe you and I often envision. Rather it is a virtue, a choice, and an opportunity.

Everybody fails. As a boy, Thomas Edison’s teacher told him he was too stupid to learn anything. As a soldier, former president Abraham Lincoln entered the Blackhawk War a Captain, and came out a private. Ben Affleck made Gigli. F. Scott Fitzgerald flunked college, Steven Spielberg was a high school drop-out, and Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade. “Never give up, never surrender”…and never show the prime minister a complex fraction or he whimpers like a baby.

Yet these men (and many women like them) were not destroyed by their failures but instead defined by the fact that they recovered from those failures well and were brave enough to fail in the first place. As NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin commented in a commencement address at MIT, “Not experiencing any failure in your life isn’t a sign of perfection; rather it is a sign that your goals aren’t bold enough.” Failure, in its purest form, represents an unsuccessful attempt to push the boundaries of your current level of knowledge or accomplishment, and it is in failure that you learn, live, and grow. No one fails at sitting at home watching Oprah or lounging in Starbucks sipping Café Latte! No one fails jeering Kobe Bryant or gawking at Britney Spears. People fail when they take chances that might be beyond their reach.

Almost a decade ago, Michael Jordan had a commercial in which he addressed his failures. “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career,” the Air Apparent declared. “I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life—and that is why I succeed.” His mentality is spot-on. You’re going to fail. We all fail. Do it, move on, and succeed.

Too often in life we are heralded for our accomplishments and maligned for our failures. The very prospect of failing often deters us from taking chances, and we end up living stagnant, predictable lives mired in the belief that only those things that are easy or sure are worth doing. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Failure is a virtue. It represents in every person an attempt to push boundaries and take risks – and it is often on a road littered with failure that we find our path to success.

Note: This post is adapted from a slightly more successful commencement address I delivered at Berry College in 2004.

Comments

[John Fowler]

Hi John,

I haven't talked to you in ages. I can't believe that this post is the most recent. Recently I interviewed for a position and as one of two finalists for the position, I ultimately lost to a very worthy competitor. I make no bones about it. She beat me and I failed to get it done. It bothered me that despite my best givings, I didn't get it done. But you know, after reading this, you're exactly right. I will succeed.