May 2025
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
-Thomas A. Edison
Failure. The definition of failure is “lack of success” or “inability to meet an expectation.” Based on that definition, I personally have faced numerous failures. I have failed to get 100% on a number of exams; I have failed to receive awards; I have failed to get into my top universities; I have failed to find the love of my life; and I have failed to get my ideal job. And at Platform, we have failed a lot as well! We have failed to enroll participants for a number of workshops and we have failed to launch several projects.
In our society, failure is a sign of weakness. It may point to the perception that we have not worked hard enough, not researched and therefore know enough, not have persevered enough, etc. In other words, we were not enough because we failed to live up to our and others’ expectations.
With failure, it is easy to feel discouraged. How can we fail and still present ourselves as a success? And an organization that fails will NOT receive funding of any sort. Who or what foundation would would want to support a failure? We want to support successful organizations, successful programs, successful projects. I would feel the same way if I wanted to fund anything. No one wants to be on or be a part of a sinking ship.
Yet failure is essential. It is the way in which we grow and develop. That is if we commit ourselves to learning from our mistakes and changing course, we will figure out a way to be more successful. We could not have grown Activism@Work if we quit after we failed to garner enough support. We would have closed down Platform after we failed to find attendees for our workshops. In other words, we would not be where we are if we decided to quit after failing.
I hope we are more successful than we have ever been but that is only possible if we learn from our failures. I admit that it is not easy to sit with our failures - I’ve had my share of bad, discouraging days. But I make a conscious effort every day to shake off the discouragement and get back to planning and executing. Because with every single person we impact, we make a difference in our community. And if we quit, well, we would not have been able to make this difference.
Sam Joo
CEO and Founder
May 1, 2025