What the World’s Greatest Talents Learn from Failure By Jie Sato Translated by Jeong Hwan Kim 21st Century Books

“Failure Deprived” - the Actual Problem is a Lack of Failure :   Resilience Strengthening Initiatives in U.S. Universities Universities that are focusing on resilience Given the current situation, several U.S. universities have begun to recognize that they need to intervene in this matter. The first school to make a move was Cornell University. The university, where several student suicide incidents took place in 2010, declared that “it is an obligation of the university to help students learn life skills.” Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania soon followed by launching initiatives to develop the resilience of their members. Faced with the reality that many of their brightest students, most of whom grew up under competitiveness environments, were unfamiliar with the natural process of learning from failure, a consensus started to form around the idea that universities needed to fill this void. These programs all aim to help students understand that failure is natural and common while also providing support so that students can learn from their failures and setbacks. Moreover, the programs help members build up their resilience to failure and stress by instilling new perspectives regarding failure and by utilizing a variety of university resources. 

Fail Fast, Fail Often By John Krumboltz and Ryan Babineaux Translated by Doyeon Published by SNOWFOX

The Center for Ambitious Failure (CAF) held a survey in December to get a better picture of how KAISTians view failure. The <KAIST Failure Survey> included questions that asked KAISTians how they would describe their ① fear of failure and their ② psychological capital, which is a measure of one’s psychological capacity to appropriately respond to failure and face challenges. Moreover, the survey attempted gauge qualities such as ③ psychological safety and ④ failure learning behavior, which serve as indicators describing the culture within KAIST of accepting the failures of its members and learning from failure. CAF plans to conduct the survey annually to investigate how these indicators change year by year. The gathered data will be used to assess the effectiveness of efforts aimed at improving the perception of failure in KAIST and building a better campus failure culture.   The first survey was held as an online survey over two weeks from December 27th, 2022 to January 9th, 2023. We received responses from over 700 KAISTians over this period. Among them, a total of 609 responses were included for the final analysis, including responses from 152 undergraduate students (25%), 295 graduate students (48.4%), 40 faculty members (6.6%), and 122 staff members (20%). This month’s newsletter presents a summary of the survey results. 

The Fearless Organization By Amy Edmondson Translated by Yoonyoung Choi Published by Dasan Books

The early years of SpaceX told through 『Liftoff』  and the 10-year journey of Toss archived in 『An Out-Of-The-Ordinary Challenge』 In 2022, two long-awaited books were released in Korea: one detailing the remarkable journey of how SpaceX transformed the aerospace industry and became the world’s leading private space company, and the other retelling the story of the Toss team, Korea’s first fintech unicorn company that is revolutionizing financial experiences for consumers. These books describe how both companies had to constantly prove themselves while enduring the many obstacles, failures, and struggles that came with taking the unknown road – the road that was deemed by everyone as impossible. 

Winning essays from the CAF contest "My Failure Story“ OOO / Department of Biological Sciences of KAIST From here onward, I started to ponder about the following question: ‘does failure actually exist in this world?’ Should we define failure as every instance where a person is unable to achieve the results they would ideally like to? All endeavors will produce some sort of result, and in the process, we are also given opportunities to grow. Then, could we say that I failed because I chose to avoid the problem after running into a wall? What exactly is failure?  Some readers may look at my story and think that it does not really fit under the category of failure. Others may think that I had the courage to overcome my failure and achieve success. It is natural for people to have different opinions since the term ‘failure’ in itself is subjective. If someone asked me, “have you failed before?”, I can confidently reply with the following response: “No, I have never failed. Instead, I made an ‘attempt,’ experienced a ‘setback,’ and had the ‘strength’ and ‘courage’ to overcome it.”

Winning essays from the CAF contest "My Failure Story“ OOO School of Electrical  Engineering of KAIST We spend a lot of time in school learning Korean, English, math, and our major fields, but I had very few opportunities to learn about the art of dating. This is why I feel like I struggle with relationships, and I still find it difficult to find the balance between dating and the work I need to do in life. Also, I don’t think I am good at recognizing whether a relationship I have with someone is just between friends or between two people who have feelings for each other. It would be nice to have someone who could teach me about how to be good at dating. 

Winning essays from the CAF contest "My Failure Story" Jeanne Choi   / School of Computing, KAIST The question I want to ask every reader is ‘are you currently living a successful life?’ Since there can only be one person at the very top, most people will probably answer no. Then, let’s slightly change the question: ‘what makes you truly happy and satisfied, and are you living your life doing that?’ If you are, then you can proudly say that you are ‘living a successful life.’ However, if you are not living your life doing what you love to do, then I urge you to get up and start right away. Even if it means making some sacrifices right now, you need to make some changes if you do not want to live your entire life as a frog that is forever stuck in a well with nothing to see except the walls around it.

Winning essays from the CAF contest "My Failure Story“ Na Xu   / Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, KAIST Failure is like a father, he will not always make you feel at ease, but he makes you feel safe because tomorrow will be better than today. Failure is like a father, he is strong when you are young and weak, but you will convince him when you grow up and capable enough. Failure is like a father, he is always there for you, not to help you up immediately when you fall, but to tell you how to avoid making the same mistake again. Failure is like a father, he is strict almost all the time, but when you overcome difficulties, he smiles. Failure is like a father, he makes you have a strong heart to face anything. Failure is like a father, he will not company you forever, but you will remember him forever. Failure is like a father, he shapes who you are.