26A – Celebrating Failure

1. A time this past semester that I failed: A time this past semester that I failed was in my ADV4800- Advertising Campaigns class. The class is a demanding, but rewarding capstone class for advertising majors, and is about strategic advertising planning and is the culmination of what is taught in the research, strategies, copy and design, media planning, promotion and public relations courses the major offers. I was managing the project, which is a campaign plan book, for a real client, and my group and I were so eager to please them that we set ambitious goals and deadlines at the very beginning of the project. Everyone in the group thought this was doable, but we forgot to take into account classes and other extracurriculars that everyone had, and we all failed at meeting internal deadlines that we had set together as a group at the start of the project. Tasks that were supposed to be completed by the end of the week ended up taking two or three weeks, and everyone in the group was not happy. Looking back on this experience, I realized that I should have been more transparent about my extracurricular activities, along with letting the other group members know when I was going to have a busy week due to exams or projects, along with being more conservative with estimated dates to the client. The client will not be upset if they know about the timeline in advance, but they are going to be disappointed if they are promised something that is not delivered. Procrastination played a role in both my failure, along with the group. I would agree with the deadline that everyone set up in the group, but prioritize other classes and assignments, due to those having hard deadlines versus the ones for Advertising Campaigns, which requires the campaign book to be completed by the end of the semester. I took this experience to learn and become better at managing expectations for clients during projects I oversee. For example, for another class we also had a client, and I overestimated the time the group would take on the project. By informing them that it may take longer, the group actually finished one week in advance.

2. What I learned from it: What I learned from this experience was that I should have gotten a full understanding of what the client wanted and expected before jumping into the project with high ambitions and unrealistic ideas. By doing so, we had set nearly impossible deadlines and tasks, and the group suffered as a result. After experiencing failure this semester through ADV4800- Advertising Campaigns, I realized that I was not properly planning at the very beginning of the project for the campaign book. If I had planned better and set more feasible and tangible deadlines for the group, maybe we would not have failed at reaching the designated due dates. The goal of completing the plan book did not change, but for the next client or project, the approach will be revised, or the plan should be constantly evolving. After experiencing such failure in my life, I realized that success is not everything, forcing me to take a deeper look into who I am and why I do the things that I do. When I valued success over everything else, failure tended to show up more often. However, when I valued happiness and contribution, success becomes more apparent and almost effortless. Despite experiencing failure, my goals did not change, no matter how ambitious they were. Through failure, I came to realize that I had to re-envision my goals, not revise them. I needed to see them clearer in my mind. Setting goals the right way plays a key factor in one’s potential for success. By re-envisioning goals and taking a step back, one tends to gain more perspective, seeing things clearer. Afterwards, one can push ahead. As long as I don’t give up, I did not actually fail. Failure also made me realize that many other people had failed numerous times too before succeeding. I was too harsh on myself and need to lighten up and enjoy the journey as opposed to focusing on the final destination. Many other people have been through similar, if not worse, failures in the past and by seeking it, one can usually find the inspiration that they were after in the first place.

3. Reflection: In general, what I think about failure is that it is an important aspect of life and is necessary. While I do not enjoy failing, by experiencing it, I have learned to become a better person. Without failure, people would be less capable of compassion, empathy, kindness, and great achievements, we would be less likely to reach for the stars. However, failure can be viewed as a steppingstone in life. From failing or failure, we gain experience, knowledge, and resilience. After going through something that results in failure, we can walk away from it with firsthand experience, helping one to further and develop a deeper understanding for life. After failing at something, one’s frame-of-mind is altered, forcing one to reflect on the true nature of things and their importance in life, transforming and improving future selves. Failure also brings with it firsthand knowledge, which can be harnessed in the future to overcome the failure that was experienced in the first place. Thomas Edison failed nearly 1,000 times to create a commercially viable electric lightbulb, but with each failure, he gained the knowledge of one more avenue that did not work. It was the accumulated knowledge developed from around 1,000 failed attempts that ultimately led to his success. Failure also builds resilience, the more we fail, the more resilient we become. By believing that one is going to succeed on the first try, or even within the first few attempts, we are setting ourselves up for something more painful than failure. Personally, I handle failure as a learning experience, and try to gain something from it. This class has changed my perspective on failure by enabling me to embrace it, rather than to be ashamed of it and hide it. I am more likely to take a risk now than I was just a few months ago because entrepreneurship is fundamentally linked to risk taking. In most cases, personal capital must be invested into a growing business, and one’s reputation is at stake on an unproven idea. However, risks are calculated, not random gambles. Calculated risk takers are those that carefully take steps toward their goals, not just gambling their everything into the venture, finding ways to reduce risk as they move forward in business.