Failing is succeeding and losing is winning

When I think about failure, I do not necessarily think about Italian Football Coaches. However, statistically speaking, they are more likely to have ‘failed’ than any other football coaches in the world. As things stand in the world of football, they are also more likely to be ‘successful’ than any other nationality of football.

Sounds like a very strange dichotomy but, according to the esteemed sports journalist, Martin Samuel, Italian coaches succeed because they are allowed to fail more than any other major football playing nation. They are sacked more often but their ability to learn from their mistakes makes them more employable (and usually more successful) at their next club.

I find this contradictory relationship between ‘failing’ and ‘winning’ quite fascinating, and it is one that the great Michael Jordan has commented upon many times. Arguably, his most famous quote is, ‘I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed’.

We can draw so many conclusions and lessons both from Italian football coaches and the words of Michael Jordan. Their words and experiences resonate with Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset theory and the message we (rightly) give to children in all schools. Resilience and being able to cope with adversity are the key human characteristics that we find in successful learners (and people). Getting things wrong is perfectly acceptable and sometimes, good is good enough.

Keeping with the football theme, the one time Crystal Palace manager and pundit, Ian Dowie, coined the phrase ‘Bouncebackability,’ and this has now entered the lexicon of the English language and even sits proudly in the best known dictionaries.

There are very few people who set out to fail in any given task or challenge. Sadly, there are even fewer people who think it’s okay to do so. Educators need to demonstrate to pupils what is acceptable and the mantra of learning from our errors should, in my opinion, be pushed harder in our schools. Finding the balance of failure, success and learning is, in so many ways, the golden ticket to which we should all aspire.

Jason Whiskerd