Jennifer Majorana
Executive Vice President, Hall of Giants
I was a social science major in college. At one point, I had to take a life sciences class. The material was very challenging – and when I took my first exam, I earned a C. When I saw that grade, all of my conditioning told me to drop the course. I figured it was better to admit defeat than risk my GPA.
That conditioning that urged me to quit? You may recognize it in yourself, or in someone you know. Some personalities seem to brush off failure easily, while for others falling short in anything sparks an identity crisis. Many of us are raised to see failure as a disaster to be avoided at all costs. Perhaps our teachers told us that failing (and for many of us, a “C” feels like failing) was due to lack of preparation, intelligence or ability. We learned early that risk-taking and out-of-the-box thinking was not nearly as valued as meeting pre-established standards and demonstrating our mastery knowledge. As a result, too many of us learn to play it safe.
In other words, we learned to avoid failure at all costs.
Almost without exception, entrepreneurs buck this instinct to shy away from risk. It’s not that they’re gluttons for punishment. Rather, entrepreneurs have a superpower: they see failure as feedback. To the entrepreneurial mind, falling short of a goal produces all kinds of inputs. Those inputs let us adjust the factors within our control, help us shape our judgment, and influence our future decisions.
Elon Musk famously observed that “If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.” (Countless other entrepreneurs throughout American history could have said the same thing.) In other words, there are lessons that only failure can teach. This isn’t just about perseverance, though that’s a universal trait among entrepreneurs. Rather, failure forces creative adaptation and refinement. Almost every great success rests on a foundation of adaptations made in response to repeated disappointments.
For two and a half centuries, Americans have prized this willingness to fail repeatedly. History demonstrates that failure creates the habitat for innovation. With the feedback that can only come from setback, entrepreneurs can modify their product, tailor their service, and adapt what they offer to better meet the needs of the consumer.
I am very grateful I didn’t drop that tough science course. Instead of quitting, or just resolving to study harder, I figured out I needed to study differently. I adapted my preparation style and dedicated more time to it. Instead of cutting bait, I leaned into the challenge and came out the other side with a bit more resilience and pride than I had before. I had learned a lesson that only a brush with failure could teach.
Nobody relishes falling on their face. But learning why you stumbled and fell – and figuring out what you need to do differently next time – can teach something you could have learned no other way.
In the permanent Hall of Giants museum, you just might someday see a Hall of Failure. The great risk-takers we seek to celebrate each tasted failure many times. The lessons they learned as a consequence turned into inventions, ideas, and products that built the modern world. We hope you’ll join us and start to think about failure a little differently.