Anti-Fragile Spirit: Setbacks as Discovery Mechanism

“Being anti-fragile does not mean being resilient – rather, it means positively benefitting from shocks, setbacks, risks and uncertainty. To innovate, he says, first get into trouble. Setbacks are a discovery mechanism; they also release excess energy, motivation and willpower. Exposure to failure is essential for success; we need ‘the light of experience gained by disaster’.11 Through imagination, courage and action, it is possible to get, in his wonderful phrase, ‘the better half of luck’.12 This eloquently describes the actions of our players to a tee. It is not clear, however, that this attitude to risk, setbacks and disaster is the natural property of humans. Rather, it seems that resilience is the most that the great majority of people expect of themselves – the ability to withstand failures, not the ability to seek them out and triumph from them.”

“It is not that they wanted, either consciously or unconsciously, to experience huge problems. Instead, they took risks which ordinary people tend not to take, and they were able to benefit from setbacks which would have knocked most people for six. They had the anti-fragile spirit. They were and are buccaneers, pirates and explorers, with a highly developed sense of their own potential and with strong anti-conventional opinions – they exhibit not just a strong ego, but also an ability to confront and confound adversity, with a curiosity about themselves and the world and a degree of stoicism which sets them apart from people who are merely big-headed and oblivious to risk and randomness. Our players sought out risks, knowing that they were risks, aware that they were swimming against the tide, confident that they could win, but aware of the possibility of failure and able not just to cope with it, but to find a way around it. They had and have the courage to benefit from adversity.”