How Losing Can be a Winning Strategy
What doesn’t kill you really can make you stronger
Friedrich Nietzsche is credited with first uttering the aphorism “What does not kill me makes me stronger.” You might hear Kelly Clarkson’s version in your head. Or Kanye or Kiss. Each of them, and at least 11 other musicians have borrowed and tweaked the line which, scientists now say, rings true, especially when people come heart-wrenchingly close to winning.
In the latest example, a study in the journal Nature Communications finds that failure early in a scientist’s career can lead to greater long-term success, as measured not by hit songs but by hit research papers.
The results offer lessons to losers and winners, the researchers say, and perhaps even to managers making hiring decisions based on glowing resumes that likely leave out key information about lessons learned. Other research suggests frustrating near-misses, or even being ever-so-slightly behind in a competition, athletic or otherwise, motivates people to try harder.
Science ‘hits’
In the new study, researchers at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management analyzed records of more than 1,000 early-career scientists who applied for coveted financial grants from the National Institutes of Health between 1990 and…
