A three-day speaker series hosted by students in Ohio State’s Business Honors Cohort Program and centered around redefining failure will be held in Pfahl Hall on Feb. 27 from 7 to 9:30 p.m. The Feb. 26 and Feb. 28 events will take place in the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship. Credit: Kyle Quinlan | Lantern Reporter
Students in Ohio State’s Business Honors Cohort program are looking to turn failure into a positive learning experience through a three-day speaker series centered on the benefits of failure.
A team of seven cohort students organized the event as part of an impact challenge — a seminar-style course within the program that challenges groups to organize an event, fundraiser or collaboration — running Monday through Wednesday with the goal of redefining failure for both students and adults.
“We noticed a lot of people at Ohio State have a one-lined idea of what success looks like,” Brynn Mulligan, a third-year in marketing and impact challenge team member, said. “We are trying to change the narrative and show that there are a million other paths to success and you have to go on the one that is right for you.”
According to Mulligan, the featured speakers include Gene Smith, Ohio State athletic director; Jo Ann Quinif, Diamond Hill president and chief client officer; Imran Nuri, author and nonprofit founder; Jesse J. Tyson, former president and CEO of the National Black MBA Association and a retired global aviation director at ExxonMobil; and Cynthia Turner, assistant dean and chief diversity officer at the Fisher College of Business.
Mulligan said these speakers will touch on both personal and professional experiences with failure, exploring how they have dealt with and overcome adversity during their unique journeys. Audience members’ questions will be taken after each speaker has concluded.
“What all these speakers have in common is that they are happy, successful and proud of where they are,” Mulligan said. “I think hearing their stories would benefit any Ohio State student.”
Nolan Scanlon, a third-year in economics and finance and impact challenge team member, said fear of failure stopped him from taking many risks when starting college.
The team members said they all had a similar pattern of avoiding situations that could lead to failure, which prompted the event, Scanlon said.
“I think failure is pretty paralyzing. It’s something you obviously want to avoid,” Scanlon said. “But I don’t think people have the appetite for risk and failure to where they can embrace it as opposed to running away from it.”
Scanlon said accepting failure as “a fact of life” and viewing it as a beneficial experience is what the team hopes attendees take away from the event.
“Obviously, failure doesn’t feel good. But I think when you fail and have those learning moments, that’s where you grow the most,” Scanlon said.
Mulligan said she wants this experience to be transformative and meaningful for all who attend.
“I don’t want this to be a motivational thing that gets people excited for a day and then leaves their mind,” Mulligan said. “I want the effect to be continuous and change the way people approach things and make decisions.”
The first event will take place Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship; the second event will be held Tuesday from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in Pfahl Hall 140; and the final event will be Wednesday, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship.
Admission is free and the group encourages those attending to register through its Linktree. More information on the featured speakers and the locations and times of the events can be found on the group’s impact challenge document.
