An Examined Life

The fist slams on the boardroom table as the boss stares steely eyed at his minions. “Failure is not an option” he bellows in an attempt to motivate.

The charges all sit, hands palms down, and nod their heads obediently. All except one. That kid from accounting, the one with the smart ass comments in the break room. He’s thinking that, besides the obvious cliché, it’s the wrong advice if you want push people to greater heights.

If there’s no option to fail, then it doesn’t really matter what you do. It’s like that stupid question he read in the self help book his sister bought: ‘What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?’. Why even waste the time coming up with an answer?

Failure or the potential of, he thought to himself, is actually an integral part of any worthwhile endeavour. Risk, in whatever form, is the currency of success. The potential for consequence makes one plan, think, and pay close attention.

Nature seems to have designed things such that the greater the risk, the higher the potential for catastrophe, the sweeter the accomplishment. And, as Darwin discovered, those who don’t appropriately consider the possible cost usually find themselves with a one way ticket out of the gene pool.

The young man considered disrupting the flow of his superior’s Patton-esque rant and explaining his logic, but thought better of it. He figured the consequence of that action would far outweigh any potential reward. Sure his boss thought failure wasn’t an option, but in the case of our accounting clerk, he might just make an exception.