"The Blind Side of Success & Failure: Ideas from The Second City experience" presented by Hoh Kim, Founder & Head Coach, THE LAB h, @ TEDx Sinchon, Seoul, Korea, on August 28, 2010

1. ‘the blind sides’
of success and failure:
ideas from The Second City experience
TEDx sinchon
august 28, 2010
hoh kim (twitter: @hoh / blog: hohkim.com)
founder & head coach, THE LAB h (thelabh.com)
C.Interaction Lab, Graduate School of Culture Technology, KAIST
1

2. success trend
work money
md people play
marriage
9
dmd
6.75
mgr
4.5
intern start-up
ae
2.25
divorce
0
‘96 ‘97 ‘98 ‘99 00’ 01’ 02’ 03’ 04’ 05’ 06’ 07’ 08’ 09’ 10’
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3. professional focus
• ‘bad news’: how it is ‘produced’ and how
we should prevent & manage >> deal with
many failures (mistakes or wrongdoings)...
3

4. context
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5. 1. why?
• “successful failure” vs. “failed success”
• we are interested in success.
5

6. obviously, success is a more
popular topic than failure
online book stores/
key words amazon (u.s.) kyobo (korea)
success (s) 110,614 12,936
failure (f) 14,880 1,390
f/s (%) 13% 11%
searches done on August 25, 2010
amazon: book category search
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7. strong interests in success does not
necessarily mean we know it inside out.
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8. 2. how?
“(in the beginning) it looks like...”
outside
success failure
/ inside
“(in the end)
it becomes...” the best case scenario
success (very very lucky!)
2nd best case scenario
the worst case
2nd worst scenario
failure case scenario (really really
screwed up!)
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9. my best friend kang-hee once told me
that our successes and failures are like
“coin-tossing experiments.”
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 h t
p1 t t h t t t t t t h 2 8
p2 h h t h t h h h h h 8 2
p3 t h h h h h h h t h 8 2
p4 h t h t h t h h h h 7 3
p5 t t t t t t h h h h 4 6
p6 t t t h h t h t t t 3 7
p7 h t h h h t t h t h 6 4
p8 h h t h h t h h t h 7 3
p9 t h t t t t h t h h 4 6
p10 h t h t t h t t t t 3 7
total 52 48
h=head/t=tail
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10. now, turn the table into
“success & failure table”
in different stages of our lives
20s’ 30s’ 40s’ 50s’ 60s’ and after s f
p1 f f s f f f f f f s 2 8
p2 s s f s f s s s s s 8 2
p3 f s s s s s s s f s 8 2
p4 s f s f s f s s s s 7 3
p5 f f f f f f s s s s 4 6
p6 f f f s s f s f f f 3 7
p7 s f s s s f f s f s 6 4
p8 s s f s s f s s f s 7 3
p9 f s f f f f s f s s 4 6
p10 s f s f f s f f f f 3 7
total 52 48
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11. so what?
• min. 10 yrs ~ max. 40 yrs of success
• 5/6 = higher success rate in early stage (10+ yrs of
success in 20s’-30s’) generate higher success rate
in later stage (10+ yrs of success in 40s’-50s’)
• 2/4 = 50% of those with lower success rates in
early stage (less than 10 yrs of success in
20s’-30s’), still enjoys higher success rate in later
stage (10+ yrs of success in 40s’-50s’)
• surprisingly, 8/10 experiences success in the end!
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12. 3. what?
(jumping to conclusions)
• success & failure have their blind sides: ‘failure
inside success’ or ‘success inside failure’
• success & failure are more about attitudes/
characters, not events.
• you cannot find the blind sides by yourself, but,
only by others’ help. that’s why a great friend or
mentor matters for your success.
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13. real problems
with s/f
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14. my friend & mentor, david chard, told me
“failure is just a bump in a road”
success failure
about “i am such a perfect person!” “i am a loser”
(well, you were lucky) (failure happens when you ‘label’ it!)
you
about “what a loser...”
(next time, they can succeed,
“they are the winners!”
(you can be a winner next time or
others and you might need their help) later! life is not that short)
about “if i keep doing the same thing...”
(well, as Marshall Goldsmith told ‘what got
“there will be no success in my life!”
(positive things will come to you,
future you here, won’t get you there!’) when you think positively!)
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15. solutions
ideas from The Second City experience
The Second City is the world's premier comedy theatre and school of improvisation, started in Chicago in 1959.
The Second City has been called "A Comedy Empire" by the New York Times. http://www.secondcity.com/about/
Photos are provided by The Second City
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16. 1. “yes, and...”
• say “yes” to your success and failure
• “and” take further actions to sustain your success
or turn around your failure into success
• every failure has a take-away message about
success
• if you made a mistake or wrongdoing, then, say
“yes, i made a mistake (it was my fault), i’m so
sorry, and i will do...”
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17. 2. “character”
• it’s ok to play a jerk (cruel, rude, or small-
minded*) on a stage in theatre
• don’t be a jerk on a “stage in society”
• great skills/knowledge + bad attitudes =
wrong & failed character in society
*definition from webster.com
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18. 3. “ensemble”
i do know i do not know
others do know open blind
others do
hidden unknown
not know
johari window
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19. we all need ‘left tackles’
(best friends / great mentors)
(source: usatoday.com)
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20. final thoughts
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21. conclusions
• success or failure is not (an) event (s), but, more
about our attitudes (how to approach ‘successful/
failed experiences).
• it’s important to find the blind sides of each
success and failure, and do something about it.
• but, we cannot find the blind sides by ourselves,
so, we need a great friend or mentor who can tell
us the truth.
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22. but, how can i find the
real friend/mentor?
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23. Dr. Robert Cialdini, the most influential figure in the
area of science of influence, the author of global million
seller “influence,” after studying 60+ years of research in
psychology of influence, taught me:
smart people avoid asking only
“who can help me here?”
but, first ask
“whom can i genuinely help here?”
well, that’s the secret to make great friends.
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24. “happiness” trends
success vs. happiness
work (career)
money (finance)
40 people (relationship)
play (culture)
HAPPINESS
30
20
10
0
‘96 ‘97 ‘98 ‘99 00’ 01’ 02’ 03’ 04’ 05’ 06’ 07’ 08’ 09’ 10’
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25. ‘the blind sides’
of success and failure:
ideas from The Second City experience
TEDx sinchon
august 28, 2010
hoh kim (twitter: @hoh / blog: hohkim.com)
founder & head coach, THE LAB h (thelabh.com)
C.Interaction Lab, Graduate School of Culture Technology, KAIST
25