The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination

I know nothing of Harry Potter or much of the business empire it has created. Despite the fact that as of the middle of last year the book series has sold more than 400 million copies – I’ve even heard that engaging in Harry “Pothead” reading sessions is popular among some drug users – I don’t know the difference between a Mugwort and a Twiddlebug (I don’t even know where I’m pulling those names from). While I’ve somehow managed to avoid all Potter-related books, movies, video games, toys, blogs, and drug activity, I could not ignore the awesomeness of J.K. Rowling’s June 5, 2008 Harvard University Commencement Address. Click here to read.

If you’re lazy and don’t have time for all 3 pages of it, let me outline super briefly some of what the billionaire British author has to say. She discusses the benefits of failure, which is a vitally important concept to understand given that, “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.” Rowling also deliberates on imagination, which, “in its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity … is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.”

She broaches the topic of when, during her early 20s in London, she worked in the research department at Amnesty International's headquarters. This experience allowed her to learn that, “Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people's minds; imagine themselves into other people's places.”

One truth she successfully highlights is, “our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people's lives simply by existing.”

And I agree! You’re alive… You interact with people every day and you have the opportunity and choice to influence them. Make smiles, spread knowledge, and help when you can.