No Hero Stories
By Joseph
McSpadden
Eff-Up Nights and the Healing Power of Failing in Public
n the opening scene of Patton (1970), the brilliant World War II commander, played by George C. Scott, delivers some stern words. “Americans love a winner, and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn’t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed.” But in fact, that is precisely what people in Richmond, Virginia, and around the world, have been doing. Laughing at failure might run contrary to the entrepreneurial American spirit, yet for those attending F*ckup Nights, the experience has been quite liberating. Our bootstrap culture is saturated with books that expound the Six Secrets of Super Success, or the Seven Habits of Highly Overworked People, but there aren’t many manuals on how to close down your failed business. What resources are there for those of us who made the calculated decision to launch into the uncharted territory of our ambition, only to crash and burn? Nobody likes that F word—failure—or the shame that accompanies it. But we need not feel alone. A F*ckup Night is your chance to take your
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inner critic, the one who mouths cheap slogans like “man up,” and jettison him, as in “man overboard.” At F*ckup Nights people gather to talk about their biggest screw-ups. Thus, the name. Birthed in Mexico City in 2012, F*ckup Nights has over 330 chapters world-wide. The brainchild of Pepe Villatoro and Leticia Gasca, the purpose of the organization is to bring people together to talk about their failures. In Richmond, the meetings have been exciting and fast-paced. Set up like a TED Talk, the evening starts with an open bar and a chance to network and socialize. A DJ keeps things lively with some funky music, and the prevailing mood is festive. Some in attendance wear shirts with slogans like “Try, Fail, Learn, Repeat” or “Everybody Fails, We Talk About It.” Many sport a self-adhesive name tag that says, “Hi! My name is _________ … and I’m a F*ckupper.” The conference space is packed. At the appointed time, the crowd settles into their seats, and the meeting begins. A typical F*ckup Night features three speakers who each talk for ten minutes, followed by ten minutes of questions and an-
THE MOCKINGBIRD
