Failing Better: Recent Episodes
Mary Darcy
They say the only things you can be sure of are death and taxes. But there's another. At some point, we are all going to fail. But is that really bad? Failing Better talks with successful people about the times when they were less than successful, how they handled failures, how they moved on, and what part failure plays in creating their successes.
Philip "Lecco" Morris is a musician, composer producer, poet and aspiring Adirondack 46er. In this edition of Failing Better, Lecco shares a lesson in grace learned in a harrowing night in the Adirondacks.
Near the end of our conversation, Lecco reference a video of a resilient little girl learning to jump on a bench. Here's the video. It will make your day.
Musician, composer, poet, producer and aspiring Adirondack 46er Philip "Lecco" Morris shares a tale of a harrowing night in the high peaks that led to a lesson in grace. That's next on Failing Better.
Failure is something athletes face every day of their careers. Every stroke, every swing, every race is a lesson in failure and success. This week we talk with LPGA champ and CBS sports broadcaster Dottie Pepper about preparation, goals, flexibility and the role of failure in the life of an athlete.
Pepper's new book about her mentor, George Pulver, is called Letters to a Future Champion.
In this episode, Pepper references Anne Lamott's book, Bird by Bird.
Failure is something athletes face every day of their careers. Every stroke, every swing, every race is a lesson in failure and success. This week we'll talk with LPGA champ and CBS sports broadcaster Dottie Pepper about preparation, goals, flexibility and the role of failure in the life of an athlete.
Rex Smith, editor-at-large of Hearst's Times Union newspaper opens up about one of his earliest newsroom failures, the challenges of dealing with failure in the very public sphere of journalism, and navigating through the fast paced technological changes in media today.
Note: Smith recently announced his retirement from the Times Union. This interview was conducted prior to that announcement.
Rex Smith, editor-at-large for the Hearst newspaper, The Times Union, shares one of his earlier failures, and his thoughts on what it takes to handle failure in the very public sphere of journalism.
Next on Failing Better.
What is your obligation to the people to your first fans, and your early work? If you change, are you selling out, or growing? And what even is failure anyway? This week on Failing Better, chef, entrepreneur, musician, and two time Food Network Chopped champ, Ric Orlando dishes about failure in and out of the kitchen, and on the price of popularity.
You can learn more about Ric at Ricorlando.com, where you can also get recipes and shop for his new line of spices.
Share your thoughts, pitch us a guest or tell us your own story of failure at hello@failingbetterpodcast.com
This week on Failing Better, chef, entrepreneur, musician, and two time Food Network Chopped champ, Ric Orlando dishes about failure in and out of the kitchen, and on the price of popularity.
Join us for failing better at failingbetterpodcast.com, or on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Share your thoughts, pitch us a guest or tell us your own story of failure at hello@failingbetterpodcast.com
I watch too much cable news.
I admit it. Especially during covid. I feel some primal need to be connected to the world, so if I'm walking, running, cleaning, cooking, working -- doing anything that doesn't require deep concentration-- I'm listening to the news. I'm well and truly on top of world events.
I'm also very sad.
Not all the time. Don't start worrying. Yet. But this week has been rough. It's impeachment week boys and girls. And the events of January 6th at the U.S. Capitol are being replayed. Over. And Over. And over.
Over and over again I'm watching mobs of people storm the Capitol, spew foul language and racist slurs, attack police officers. Even I, with my need for connection, had to turn it off. Maybe that's how I missed Lawyer Cat.
By now you've seen the viral video of the Texas Lawyer caught in a cat filter during an online district court hearing. If you haven't, stop reading this right now and go here.
Now you're up to speed.
Yep. Lawyer Cat. Lawyer. Cat.
Lawyer Cat helped rescue me from some of my sadness this week. Just for a few minutes. Well maybe more than a few minutes. I'll cop to it, I've gone back to Lawyer Cat several times in the last 24 hours. Especially the part where the lawyer finds the need to inform the judge, “I’m here live. I’m not a cat.” It's ridiculous. It's adorable. And it's a mistake. A ridiculous, adorable mistake.
The lawyer, Rod Ponton, was using his assistant's computer, and he couldn't figure out how to turn off the filter that made him look -- you know -- like a kitty cat. According to the New York Times, Ponton's Secretary was "mortified" by the mistake, but Ponton, and the judge, and several million people around the world were delighted.
They stopped. They watched. They laughed. And for a moment they forgot about impeachment and Covid, and home schooling and whatever else may have been bringing them down. Sure it was a moment. But what a lovely silly moment.
Sometimes mistakes are gifts. Delightful little gifts. And when you can go with it, and not yell at your secretary, you share your delight with the universe. Thanks, Lawyer Cat. Or should we say, Thanks, Lawyer Cat's Secretary.
We now return you to your regular programming.
Or maybe just to another viewing of Lawyer Cat.
"Yippee!" is probably the last thing you want to yell when you encounter failure. Your exclamations are probably more of the four letter variety. But Kat Koppett wants you to at consider celebrating failure and on this first episode of Failing Better, she'll tell us why. Koppett is a trainer, facilitator, improvisor, applied improv expert and eponymous founder of Koppett, where she's traveled the world teaching improv and creativity to companies like Facebook, Apple and JPMorgan Chase. She's also one of the forces behind the MopCo Improv Theater, a leading force in the Upstate New York improv scene. You can hear some great discussions about failure and other improv topics, check out Kat's podcast, Dare To Be Human.
Also on this episode: Mary shares one of her greatest public failures. Spoiler alert-- it involves goats.
Kat Koppett has traveled the world teaching companies like Apple, Facebook and JP Morgan Chase how to use improv for creativity. She's a teacher, presenter, coach, mentor. She'll join us next on Failing Better.
There's more that unites us than divides us. One of the many things we have in common? Failure. There comes a point in everyone's life when things don't go as planned -- in big ways or small ones. And while we're afraid to admit our own failures, we love to hear stories of failure, and resilience of others.
So maybe failure can be something more than just a moment where we didn't get what we wanted. Maybe failure can be more than just a tool for learning. Maybe failure can help unite us. Maybe.
Yes, a podcast about failure.
Think about it -- it's one of the things we all have in common. We all fail. Maybe it's a math test, maybe it's a tray of broken dishes, maybe it's a project gone awry or a wrong move in a relationship. The failures may be unique, but failure is not. Still, while it happens to us all, our failures are something we are loathe to discuss. We squirrel them away in the deepest parts of ourselves. On social media, at work, in public, we try to project an image that we are perfect. But we love to hear how other people failed. And a good redemption story is the stuff of Hollywood and best seller lists.
So welcome to failing better -- a place where successful people share moments of failure, the lessons they learned from them, and how they overcame them.
What's the point? I'm glad you asked. In a world that is crying out for connection, we're often afraid to approach each other because we see the perfect in others and only the broken in ourselves. By talking about failure we're hoping to break down some of the walls and open up opportunities for connection and understanding.
So yes, it's about failure, but it's really about resilience, encouragement and connection.
We hope you'll listen, ask questions, and maybe even share your own stories of failure and resilience. And we hope these stories help you to be braver, and kinder to yourself and others.
Keep failing. It's proof that you're trying.