The dictionary definition of the word ‘failing’ is ‘being unable to achieve what one intends or being unable to complete one’s goals or plans.’ Upon closer inspection of this definition, we can see that failures are instances that only occur when we intend to do something, set goals, or make some sort of attempt. However, when people, especially young Koreans, accumulate ‘failures’ throughout their journey, they often focus more on the emotion of ‘feeling like a failure’ more than the actual experience of failing to pursue or achieve a goal.

“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. 

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 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. 

Why is it so hard to learn from our failures? :  The necessary conditions to learn from failure according to motivation research Today’s society is well aware of the fact that there are ‘lessons to be learned from failure.’ We often see successful individuals emphasize the importance of learn- ing from one’s failures. For example, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates once said, “ it’s fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” But let us take the time to think about this statement: how much do we really learn from our failures?  The research paper featured in this report was published in 2019 by Professor Ayelet Fishbach from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Dr. Lauren Eskreis-Winkler, and it challenges our conventional wisdom of ‘learning from failure.’ Here, an experimental study was conducted to prove how the act of failure itself prevents an individual from focusing on the lessons that can be learned. This report will share and examine some of the key findings and implica- tions of the study.

Let’s Publish Failures in Science : JOTE (The Journal of Trial & Error) Case Study There is an academic journal that lives by the motto of ‘let’s publish failures in science.’ We are talking about the peer-reviewed open access journal based in the Netherlands called the Journal of Trial & Error (JOTE). This project is centered around the belief that ‘the way science is communicated affects the way science is done’ and is run by graduate students (master’s and doctoral degree candidates) studying in various fields, including history, neuroscience, philosophy, physics, artificial intelligence, toxicology, and more. This month’s issue of CAF Insight will explore the background behind the birth of JOTE, the journal’s purpose, and the activities pursued by the JOTE team. We will also discuss the implications of their efforts.   (Additional Reading) Why Must We Share Failures? : WASH Failures Case Study “WASH Failures” is a project that highlights and discusses failures experienced by those working in international development cooperation projects related to water, sanitation, and hygiene. The aim of WASH Failures is to reduce the number of failed international development projects and encourage ‘better’ failures.

Most people will agree that there is always something to learn from one’s failures. However, the act of deriving new insights from failure is no simple task. This is especially true for organizations – while it is difficult for an individual to come to new realizations from their failure experiences, a more complex process is involved when a group of individuals try to derive new assets from their shortcomings. Many of those in leadership positions understand the value of learning from failure, yet there are few organizations with established strategies to identify and analyze shortcomings in a detailed and effective manner.  This report will discuss several key issues to consider when developing failure learning strategies for organizations based on the ideas proposed in Professor Edmondson’s report 『Strategies for Learning from Failure』 (which was published in the Harvard Business Review) as well as the views of Professor Yotaro Hatamura, the father of failure studies in Japan.  The first part will dive into the spectrum of causes behind failures in companies and organizations and the character- istics of such failures under this context. The following section will provide an overview of the charac- teristics of failure data and examine various elements that organizations should consider during the process of learning from failures. Lastly, by encompassing the ideas brought forth in the previous two sections, the report will conclude by offering suggestions regarding the roles of leaders when promoting the failure learning process in an organization

“Failure is a common phenomenon that occurs frequently around us.  Instead of denouncing results that look like failure and putting an end to it all with a period,  we should instead take a pause by placing a comma instead and consider these hurdles as part of the process to succeed.  For Korea to make major strides toward becoming a leading nation in the world,  it will be vital that our society becomes more tolerant to the idea of failure.” This article was published in the opinion column of Korea JoongAng Daily on February 28th, 2022. https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/25051629#home

In a society that values success, failure is often viewed as something that needs to be kept out of sight. However, there has been a movement in several fields that necessitate innovative and creative approaches to ‘shed light onto and share failures.’ This article will introduce various cases that have led the ‘sharing failure experiences’ movement and explore the meaning and impact of sharing experiences involving one’s failure to others Cases - FailCon (Fail Conference) - F*-up Nights - International Day for Failure - Fail Expo

The problem-solving process begins by defining the problem. To cement the role and scope of the Center for Ambitious Failure (CAF) as a research center aiming to bring changes to the culture of KAIST, we decided that a good way to get started is to explore the shared perceptions of KAISTians regarding what is considered as a failure and the frame through which failure is viewed. For this reason, CAF conducted a survey titled “What Does Failure Mean to You?” with all members of KAIST. This survey was conducted on December 8th~21st, 2021, and we received responses from a total of 735 members (185 undergraduate students, 386 graduate students, 55 faculty members, 103 employees, and 6 other members). In addition to sharing their thoughts on failure, many respondents sent their opinions regarding the role of CAF. This report provides an overall analysis of the submitted responses.