“The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.” - J.K. Rowling, Harvard Commencement Speech
It’s not something that your typical ego-centric entrepreneur wants to talk about; the fact that she/he has failed at one point or another. The evolutionary reality is that like the progression of life itself, failure is an essential ingredient of individual and organizational success. So this past Saturday a diverse group of innovators ranging from professors to programmers to graphic designers humbled themselves enough to get together to share, and more importantly learn from, one another’s mistakes.
Hosted at Indy Hall by Alex Hillman, Amy Hoy, Thomas Fuchs and Tony Bacigalupo nearly forty people came out to share in a the first Philly ‘fail session’.
Read more about the first FailCamp at IndyHall:
Alex Hillman’s recap
Kevin Lee, of Story Slam fame, gives his take on the unique session
“We took that feedback and, on the fly, spun out a new format to try. We set a 10 minute timer and asked people to share a problem/failure they were experiencing at this current period of time, and then within the same 10 minute window, gave the room an opportunity to speed-coach.” - Alex Hillmen
By the end of FailCamp it became obvious that we had tapped into something fundamentally ignored in the entrepreneur community; the fact that inventors and technology creators are constantly on the edge of failure and need help from their community to keep from going insane.
*FTW = For The Win
Dave Speers is an online marketing consultant and start-up junky that has worked with a wide variety of Philadelphia businesses. Dave spends most his time annoying really smart people at Indy Hall co-working collaborative.
