Kevin Kelly has a short and eloquent blog posting on failure here: Conceptual Trends and Current Topics
The best presentations, the best speeches, the best advice are usually about what people learned from their failures. Steve Jobs’ legendary Stanford commencement address lifted so many hearts because he talked about his failures. A few days ago J.K. Rowling gave a commencement speech at Harvard that also emphasized the power of failure. It is a good read (watch or listen).
While I largely agree with this, what it doesn’t address is the mental and sometimes physical damage failure can bring. Failure is like fire: if used properly, it’s power is very beneficial. But like fire, the power of failure can be highly destructive, too.
Failure has not (visibly) damaged Jobs and Rowling. The same is not true of everyone.
Smart People I Know 