By Mark Ambrogi
Ron Brumbarger is a firm believer that much can be learned from failure.
So Brumbarger has created The Failure Institute, which is an initiative of two-year-old Apprentice University
“It’s all about learning about the mistakes of others and the failures that others have experienced,” said Brumbarger, founder and president of Apprentice University. “There is no reason or purpose to repeat failure that someone has experienced.”
The institute follows the principle of Spanish philosopher George Santayana’s words, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
The Failure Institute Fall Oops to Epic Summit will be held from 8 a.m to 9:30 am. on Oct. 23 at BitWise Solutions, 11495 N. Pennsylvania St., Carmel. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m.Brumbarger, a co-founder and CEO/president of BitWise Solutions, said there will likely be three or four speakers.
“The event will have some of our keynote fellows who are part of the program who will talk about where they failed and what they would do differently and how they would keep it from happening again,” Brumbarger said.
Brumbarger said he has rich background of business people he knows so the plan is to recruit those willing to share their stories.
“People write mini-case studies for the portal they post,” Brumbarger said. “Others have a chance to read to learn from them, etc.”
So far Brumbarger has had about 12 Failure Fellows who are willing to share their stories. Dr. Dan Miller, of Historical Solutions, is one of them.
“Failure is a laboratory,” said Miller, who runs Historical Solutions. “You get to try different techniques and approaches, discarding some and retaining others. Only in doing and failing do you find the truest and purest form of learning. Everything else is speculative and theoretical, a thing yet to be tried. The best success comes from failure.”
Miller will relay stories based on history, not his own first-hand experience.
There are eight planks where people can post their stories from business, nonprofit, K-12 education, higher education, government and politics, church, law and justice and history. The $99.99 fee for business to join each year and $19.99 for students.
Joining gives access to the collection of stories and knowledge that can be gleaned from the failures. For more, visit thefailureinstiute.org.
To preregister, visit summit.thefailureinstitute.org. Attendance is free but seating is limited.