Most of us get up in the morning with a genuine desire to make some sort of positive impact.  We want to reach end of the day and have witnessed some sort of incremental progress, or accomplished something either small or substantial.  And we hope to be rewarded as a result of our efforts.  Some of us wish to see an accumulation of friends and family, while some of us wish to acquire money and power.  Some may want all of these things.  And sometimes we don’t see these rewards at all, because we fail utterly.  But even when we do fail, there’s a consolation in the idea that we tried.  There’s a kind of integrity in having put forth our best effort.  There’s a purity in it that consoles us even when we realize that, in the final analysis, we just weren’t good enough.

Which is why the whole concept of failing up is so damn hard to take.

You’ve seen examples of this in your own life.  You’ve seen people at work who mismanaged a budget, botched a project, and treated colleagues like radioactive debris.  And what happened? They were promoted.  And we don’t just see this in our day-to-day lives.  Examples of failing up are everywhere.  Here are just three:

Kate Bosworth.
Her failures:
Starred in Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (Box office failure)
Starred in Beyond the Sea (Box office failure)

Rewarded with:
Major role as Lois Lane in summer blockbuster Superman Returns

And did she acquit herself?  Listen, she looked and acted around thirteen years old.  Her character was supposed to have won a Pulitzer Prize!  When exactly did she win a Pulitzer?  Was that three weeks or four after she outgrew the Powderpuff Girls?

I kind of liked the movie, but Kate was the worst Lois ever.  Roseanne Barr could have done a better job as Lois. The lady who cuts my hair could have done a better job as Lois.  You know what?  Forest Whitaker could have done a better job as Lois.  First, go out and see Superman.  Then come back and look at this post, with Bosworth’s performance still seared into your memory, and tell me if you don’t think: “Hmm. Big middle-aged black guy.  Lois Lane.  Yeah, it could totally work.”

Anyway, enough about Lois.  I won’t bring it up again.  Then there’s:

George W. Bush
His failures:
Unsuccessfully ran for congress
Unsuccessfully ran a gas and oil company

Rewarded with:
Two terms as President of the United States, most powerful man in the world

Despite all this, of course, I would rather have seen George W. as Lois Lane than Kate Bosworth:

Sorry, I’m really done with that.  Finally, there’s also

Mankind
Failures:
Routinely hunt down and kill one another because of irrelevant differences in race, gender, and/or religion
Two world wars in the last century plus proliferation of nuclear weapons across the globe

Rewarded with:
Over 6 billion people on the planet, more than any other time in history
TIVO upgrade that allows shows to be downloaded directly to iPod for convenient viewing

Despite all of this complaining, I don’t actually want a career path in which I fail forward.  I like striving to the best of my ability, and it’s really none of my business if other people find a different, more corrupt way to succeed in life.  Still--I’m not entirely sure what I would say if someone proactively approached me and offered me the chance to fail up.  What if they suggested that failure be written into my job description, with specified metrics for slacking off that would put money in my pocket?  I’m worried that I would begin to turn it down, and then catch myself and say “You have a deal.  If you need to talk to me for the rest of the day, I’ll be taking a nap under my desk.”