Dare to fail
You would have to be a recluse to miss the ongoing campaign for president in the United States. In the world’s longest recruiting process, as it’s been called, the Republicans have had a hard time finding a suitable challenger to the current president. But there doesn’t appear to be a shortage of candidates, and following the primaries, even if they are long and occasionally complicated, can be good entertainment. Who doesn’t remember Rick Perry’s blunder?
The strange thing, or perhaps more precisely, one of the many strange things about this presidential election compared with others is that people aren’t afraid to stick out their necks. There is no shame in taking on the challenge despite the risk of making a fool of yourself and stumbling over your own two feet or being smeared by your opponent.
It appears to be a rather soft landing for those who don’t make it. We won’t dig into the reasons, but it’s not a long shot to guess that the jantelagen (the Swedish idea that you shouldn’t stand out in the crowd) has something to do with how we see it. In America, running for president is something to boast about.
But if it were Sweden the contemptuous “We told you so!” would forever follow those who had tried and failed. But it’s important to dare, to have the courage to realise your dreams even if it might lead to failure. This conviction is shared by others, including Kenneth Bengtsson, the new chairman of Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt Näringsliv), who spoke about the Swedish fear of failure during Möbelriksdagen, a furniture industry event in Lammhult, Sweden, earlier this year. He doesn’t believe the Swedish attitude toward failure is healthy.
That it obstructs business activity, and is thus detrimental for growth, welfare and a lot of other things that are beneficial to society. The world in which Form operates, that of designers and architects, is dependent upon people being willing to risk failure to make their visions and dreams come true – regardless of whether they are designers, architects, producers or developers.