Design Storytelling

There’s a theme on the benefits of failure developing here. Hot on the heels of Conan O’Brien’s speech comes the Berghs School of Communication project on the fear of failure. Another gem shared by @Brainpickings.

The Bergs School have, rather brilliantly, secured some thoughts on professional failure from creative minds such as Paulo Coehlo, Michael Wolff and Stefan Sagmeister. You can watch all the videos on Vimeo. But I agree with Maria Popova when she says Milton Glaser is her favourite. It is, at least, the most thorough exploration of why we are scared of failing.

So the real embarrassing issue about failure is your own acknowledgement that you’re not a genius, that you’re not as good as you thought you were. […] There’s only one solution: You must embrace failure. You must admit what is. You must find out what you’re capable of doing, and what you’re not capable of doing. That is the only way to deal with the issue of success and failure because otherwise you simply would never subject yourself to the possibility that you’re not as good as you want to be, hope to be, or as others think you are.

You must also read, at some point, Glaser’s wonderful 10 Things I have learned.

The focus on the topic of failure right now must be due to it being graduation season - lots of nervous youngsters emerging from their respective nests and going out to make their way in the world. But still, even for a seasoned old bird like me, these are salutary words of advice.