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Tomaino Arm Care Network

Dr. Tomaino's Blog

Failing Forward

October 23rd, 2011
There are books and countless articles on this subject—the essence of the phrase is that Failure is part of life—of being human, and that with failure comes choice. Is failure a “scarlet letter” that will forever soil a legacy or is it rather inevitable, and an opportunity to grow?

This week I was saddened to hear in the news of a local teacher who was involved in an automobile accident that his choices had, in part, contributed to. The details of whether his actions were indeed volitional or simply mistakes are irrelevant to me----because I know this man and trust the authenticity of his character. Absent that confidence I suppose I might be sucked into feeling entitled to judge his failure. But because I do not, I can more spiritually digest the value of the hardship of failure.


In Surgery it has been said that “Good judgement comes from experience, and that experience comes from bad judgement.”



Failure is inevitably linked with innovation, the scientific method---achievement. Is there an iron clad way to avoid failure? Mmm—probably helps if one does not lead. Indeed, being a change agent of any kind certainly portends a high risk of failure. As a father, I don’t discourage my son from failing, I just pray that the consequences are not too painful.


When I provide care to a patient, I not only plan for the best possible outcome, I do everything possible to achieve it. When I fail, I hope that my patient is grateful for the effort , and trusts my authenticity and intention. Dissatisfaction can be painful, nevertheless. But the only way to avoid that occasional failure is to say—“I can’t help you.”


So---to my friend—mentioned above, and to any one honest enough to acknowledge failure in their life—it is not a “scarlet letter”---but essential to success—so long as we fail forward.

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