On failure

One thing I'm realizing from the NITLE summit so far is that the talks focused on failure are generally much more effective than those of successes. First, they tend to be funny- it's easier to poke fun at yourself when you look foolish. Second, it's easier to draw parallels in failures- the major successes, with all sorts of structure, collaboration, planning and assessment attached to it can seem awfully daunting when you haven't started down the path, especially when you know the stars won't align as well in your situation. But everyone has some terrible story to tell, and learning how to work around the issues ends up being the real interesting information. Finally, it reinforces the idea that failure is sometimes an option- when you try new things it doesn't always work, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Experiments often fail- it's part of life even if we don't want to admit that we're the ones failing, and it shows ways to bets cut your losses and move on to something new.

I love failure...