November 21, 2008

Learning: The Silver Lining of Failure


"In great attempts it is glorious even to fail."

Vince Lombardi
Football Coach


There are hundreds if not thousands of quotes regarding failure but none I've read so far that speaks to one critical aspect of the experience. The idea that even in failure there can be victory.

That we will often fail is a given; however what we do when we do is not. Because failures large and small are so much a part of our lives can we really afford not to learn from them; not to look for the cloud's silver lining?


What have you learned?


3 comments :

  1. Glorious even to fail? Intellectually I agree but emotionally I don't.

    Having failed at something I considered important, I've never been able to congratulate myself for a great effort. The pain of failure was too overwhelming.

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  2. Interesting that the same guy who eluded to "winning is everything" also says failure is cool. Wonder what Sun Tzu would have to say?

    I have never understood why this concept is so intellectually appealing? I have yet to see a book entitled, "The 10 Worst Companies."

    Yes you can learn from mistakes and perhaps even failure, but most learning come from success and emulating success.

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  3. He probably never said it right after a loss or in some cases even days or weeks later. He was just too competitive for that.

    But I get the thought. Give it your best shot and if that's not good enough at least you don't have to look back and know you could have done something more.

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