Failure 101

The Not-So-Perfect Game

Today, a majority of the world’s baseball fans hates Jim Joyce. Last night, Jim made a bad call at first base stealing aways Armando Galarraga’s guaranteed perfect game. The instant replays clearly shows that the bad call was a really bad call. I imagine that Jim is not going to be getting a lot of free cups of coffee any time soon.

But I am impressed with Joyce. After the game, and after realizing that he was clearly in the wrong, Joyce sought out Galarraga and apologized. How many times have you ever heard of an umpire apologizing to a player for a bad call? He owned his mistake. He didn’t cower or become defensive but maned up, sought out the person he wrong, and was willing to deal with the consequences of his mistake. “You don’t see an umpire after the game come out and say, `Hey, let me tell you I’m sorry,’” Galarraga said. “He felt really bad.” To be that bold takes courage beyond measure.

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Being Known For Failure

Today I heard the story of golf player Jean Van de Velde and how he completely came apart in the final hole of the 1999 British Open. He went from having a 3 stroke lead going into the 18th hole to losing the championship because it took him 7 shots to get the ball in the hole. Since 1999, every time his name is mentioned it’s, “Remember, he’s the guy that choked big time at the British Open.”

I found myself really enjoying that story because of just how tragic it is. When the failure is that massive its almost impossible to look away. Yet, when I fail in public, like I did a few weeks ago, it makes you want to crawl into a hole and never come out.

I keep telling myself that recovery from failure—the ability to get up and try again—is probably THE most important skill anyone can have. Being willing to be seen again, knowing everyone looking at you has seen you at your worst, is necessary to obtain any level of success. It is vulnerable. It is humbling. It feels exposing. And it is essential.

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Ted Talk About Marshmallows

Here is more proof that trial and error, or what Tom Wujec calls prototyping, is valuable to achieving greater success.

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