Many people believe that failure is bad; however, the reality might not be true. For example, in the articles, “Failure is Not an Option,” included in the book Bad Ideas about Writing, and “Silicon Valley’s Culture of Failure… and the ‘walking dead’ it leaves behind” respectively, Allison D Carr and Rory Carroll assert that failure is not an option is a negative idea because of its possibility to hinder success. As an alternative view, they mention that repeated failure as an option is a better idea. They say it is a better idea because failure creates an opportunity for success.
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To solidify their argument, both authors gave an example of how repeated failure often leads to success. For instance, Carr gives examples of successful writers as her evidence, such as renowned journalist and public intellectual Ta-Nehisi Coates, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Junot Díaz, and Nobel prize winner for literature William Faulkner, whom all have testified that they failed many times as a writer to create good writing (Carr 78). This explains that to create good writing there is a process that may be filled with massive failure. Carr uses this evidence to show that success comes from one having the “mindset trained from failure”(Carr 76).
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Carroll in agreement with Carr provides additional evidence. In his article, Carroll said, “Failure is not only invoked, but celebrated [in Silicon Valley]. Entrepreneurs give speeches detailing their misfires. Academics laud the virtue of making mistakes. . . While the rest of the world recoils at failure, in other words, technology’s dynamic innovators enshrine it as a rite of passage en route to success” (Carroll). Carroll meant that in places where innovation is rewarded, Silicon Valley sees failure not as a mistake, but rather as a path for an opportunity. It is this culture of failure that makes Silicon Valley a successful place.
In addition, Carr mentions another evidence: “. . . [We] use and benefit daily from innovations discovered by accident: penicillin, Corn Flakes, Post-it Notes, Corning ware, WD-40, oral contraception, and potato chips. All of these were discovered when the discoverer was working on a different puzzle” (Carr 77). This means that innovation is created by making a lot of attempts. It’s interesting that many of the things which one values today are made accidentally. Instead of valuing and expecting perfection, one should respect the reality that failure can be the way to success.
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In support of Carr’s evidence, Carroll asserts the idea that failure is a path to success. He said the success, or the overnight success called by many people, comes from struggling, which is the result of repeated failure. Carroll believes it is this struggle or failure that paves the road to success. For example, He mentions, the company Airbnb, which started with two guys who struggled on their way but now have a billion-dollar company. Carroll provides Airbnb as his evidence to show how their failure (Struggle) opened the door for success while showing that the ones who stopped after one failure still fail. To explain further Carroll writes, “Most startups fail. However, many entrepreneurs still overestimate the chances of success – and the cost of failure” (Carroll). Carroll meant that even if there is a huge failure in Silicon Valley, they still know they will succeed after a repeated failure. Now, most entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, even with most start-up businesses failing, have a dream to run their own company.
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In conclusion, authors Allison D. Carr and Rory Carroll gather to inform an idea which is a better idea about failure. They conveyed that repeated failure does not hinder success, but rather provides the foundation of it. From this point, it is clear that writers should understand that creating good writing is not a linear process, but rather a recursive process. As a result, they should see their rough drafts as an opportunity to improve their paper.
Works Cited
Carr, Allison. “Failure is Not an Option.” Bad Ideas About Writing. Edited by Cheryl E. Ball & Drew M. Loewe, West Virginia University Libraries, 2017, pp. 76-81.
Carroll, Rory. “Silicon Valley’s culture of failure… and ‘the walking dead’ it leaves behind.” The Guardian. 28 June 2014.www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/28/silicon-valley-startup-failure-culture-success-myth.