Reinventing Failure

A lazy trope that is often heard in conversations relating to long-term non-Thai residents in Thailand is that “they have reinvented themselves” couched in a negative and judgmental manner. Re-inventing and repurposing items and things that are wasteful or have become redundant is a highly useful activity and can create net gains from losses if used wisely. Failures that have been made in business and society can be converted to, or subsequently be replaced by, wins or improvements.

Society, including Phuket society, has a nasty habit of ‘ganging up’ on any perceived failure and letting the judgment ball wreck through the remains of an attempt to construct something innovative. However, there are also spectacular failures that damage people, their families and the ‘market’ where people conduct business. Some of those failures contain, or are even based on, bad faith and exploitative practices, which places such failure into the category that ought not to be celebrated.

Failure has recently been a subject of praise as a bedrock of future success in places such as Silicon Valley, as set out in a Financial Times article “The Surprising Truth About Failure in Business” (John Thornhill, 12 September 2024). The same article also sets out at length the instances where failure is not necessarily such a good thing and highlights that past behaviour can at least be a reasonable baseline for predicting future behaviour.

I believe that the way failure manifests itself and how we handle it is a testament to our character at the time of the failure and afterwards. Certainly, we can glean a lot of useful information about others when observing how they handle failure, big or small.

For example, I recently reinvented my routine of playing tennis for nine years with a tennis coach and range of ex-pros and junior pros, into a new sport (for me but not for others) – Padel tennis, which is a sport growing at a phenomenal rate globally, including in Asia and Thailand. The experience has taught me new things about people and reminded me how understanding the way failure should be dealt with is a key ingredient to success or wellbeing. Upon entering the ‘Padel scene’ I felt the burning eyes of the Padel community waiting, and perhaps wishing, for me to present as ‘Mr. Tennis’. Any reference to tennis, tennis mistakes on the court or, Heaven forbid, a loss due to adoption of tennis strategies is viewed very dimly in ‘Padel World’ and being a beginner, I did indeed lose or ‘fail’ and will continue to do so as I learn.

A new padel player must overcome this friction, shed the skin of their previous racket sport, and reinvent themselves quick smart – or they will be in danger of ostracisation or a series of back-handed snickering and laughs at the expense of the unknowing new entrant. After a year and some limited success in amateur and locally arranged tournaments, the change in social reception is as noticeable as the difference between wearing shorts and singlet to attend a Thai Government office versus wearing a suit. But, after limited acceptance, some new human sentiments appear, fortunately amongst a minority, such as competitive jealousy, envy and disdain for elevation. There is always someone out there that wants to push others down in order to maintain their elevated position, as evidenced by the global inequitable wealth gap.

And yet there is, as with many of these patterns of human behaviour, still hope for more success than failure. If competition is accepted as necessary and part of the human psyche, then instead of an unrealistic ‘it is the taking part that counts’ philosophy, winners should be taught to win with grace and humility and try and bring along those that fail, for a better kinder ride.

It is that ‘grace and humility’ that sometimes is missing in a place where many have indeed reinvented themselves, for better or worse, eg:

The real estate agents who pushed the ‘Thai nominee’ structure, who now in hushed tones tell potential buyers “we always tell investors to buy leasehold’’.

The scuba divers who became teachers who became wellbeing coaches. Nothing wrong with that, provided grace packages the transformation and humility packages the wellbeing session.

The overseas passive income recipients who have reinvented the ordinariness of this into ‘bling bling’ displays of unnecessary (for the quality of Phuket’s roads) sports cars, the most expensive coffee or sour dough that money can buy for the same ingredients as less expensive affairs and the sparkly firework champagne buckets accompanied by the obligatory saxophonist and diluted dance music.

And yet, amongst all of these reinvented persons, there are failures and those that have failed even if only temporarily. It is their failure, and ours, that might be one of the key ingredients to a better society if mixed well with positives. If we see someone failing, should we stamp on them, judge them, criticize them? Or reflect on whether their failure is similar to some of our own or that we might easily have committed that failure ourselves in the past or maybe in the future?

I recently watched a series which depicts a former Far-Right activist – who had participated in violent racist and xenophobic activities – in his re-invented form as a professor teaching students about the moral wrong and dangers of extremism and how to deal with racist behaviour, ‘The Walk In’ starring Stephen Graham (2022). The convert faced death threats to himself and his family and had to regularly move home to mitigate the risk of violence from his former right-wing extremists. With the rise of Far-Right activities in Europe, and the recent xenophobic and racist behaviours displayed by governments and people – including in Asia – against those that ‘don’t fit in’, this series resonated greatly with me as an example of how a person that has truly failed can rehabilitate in the face of great adversity.

I have tried to remind myself that I have failed, often, and that I should try to understand better those that visibly and invisibly fail, and perhaps where I can – try to help them. If those people are elevated, then the baseline for our society is elevated and perhaps all of us along with it. Let us sometimes celebrate failure.

By Desmond Hughes, Senior Partner of Hughes Krupica

Hughes Krupica is a law firm which specialises in Real Estate; Construction; Hospitality; Corporate; Commercial; Tech; Dispute Resolution; and Litigation, operating from Phuket, servicing clients in relation to their business activities in Thailand and in other regions of Asia.