Why choose to fail?

 

There is an old adage that we should learn from our failures.  While that holds some merit, it also begs the question ‘...why position yourself to fail...’ 

I can understand that there must be failure as we experiment in science or medicine as we seek to confirm new theories or discover new treatments.  But most of us are not in the area of research and the reality is that most of what we ‘learn’ through our experiences has already been realized by others.   

That suggests that learning from the College of Hard Knocks is not so much a lesson of courage or perseverance but more a demonstration of pride or stupidity.  If the knowledge that you have gained through failure is actually knowledge that was already in the public domain, why go through the process? 

Smart people become wiser, not because they have learned the hard way, but because they have sought out the information from those who have already have it. These people could be co-workers, mentors, scholars, consultants or elders.  The point is simple.  Avail yourself of the knowledge that already exists before you choose to take the route that, for you, may be new. You should be able to learn more by standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before.  The lessons will be at least equal in value to those you might learn in failure, but they will definitely come at less cost. 

I allowed my staff to pursue routes that I disagreed with.  There were two caveats. The first was that the value of the lessons learned was greater than the cost of failure.  The second was that the failure could not be fatal to the well-being of the company. 

 But implicit in this undertaking was that my staff would come to understand that my reluctance was based on my experiences and that, in future, if I expressed doubts, perhaps they ought to reconsider their proposal. 

AI follows this concept.  It learns from every attempt.  That does not mean that all prior attempts were failures.  It simply means that the process towards ‘best’ is a process of ‘better’ followed by ‘better’. 

You can choose to learn the hard way.  You might get to the end with some bruises but you can say that you did it your way.  Good luck with that.   

Or you can choose to learn by building on the knowledge gained by others.  You will get to the end and be wiser in the process.  Others will celebrate for what you have added to the base of knowledge that those who follow can continue to build upon. 

I’m just saying...you decide which is smarter!