The Fear of Failing

At the panel discussion "PR Firms of the Future: The Talent Imperative," hosted by DePaul University, the audience heard from several communications professionals. Of all the advice and insight the speakers and panel members offered us, one of the key things that stood out to me was something Fred Cook said during his presentation. Midway through his talk, he asked how many people in the room had ever come up with some kind of business idea while chatting with friends. Everyone in the room raised their hands. As a follow up to this question, Fred asked how many had ever actually taken that seed of an idea and capitalized on it. Only three people raised their hands. When he asked why that is, one student said money was the primary reason. Another student more accurately, and sheepishly, answered, “fear.” We’re afraid to fail. It could be argued that this fear of failing is part of the Millennial mindset due to the fact that we’ve supposedly been coddled and given trophies for doing just about anything our entire lives, but I think the fear of failing exists across all generations.

Though I can’t imagine he didn’t feel some degree fear, or at the very least anxiety, during the early stages of his PR career, Dan Edelman took many risks and succeeded because of it. In the biography Edelman and the Rise of Public Relations, Dan Edelman is portrayed as almost fearless, despite taking chances and occasionally failing. Not only did he decide to start his own PR firm in a time when public relations was just becoming a recognized industry, but he also took risks with new business. Dan Edelman decided to take on Robert Merriam, “a long-shot alderman running for Mayor” (Wisner, 31) as a client. Edelman worked hard to help Merriam gain support, but despite his best efforts, Merriam lost the election to Richard J. Daley. After this loss, Edelman “refrained from individual political campaigns” (Wisner, 32). The takeaway from this example shouldn’t be that Edelman failed. On the contrary, he succeeded in taking a chance on something and learned from it.

Reading about Dan Edelman’s enormously brave move to open his own PR shop is something that I feel is glossed over, but to step back and put ourselves in his position, we realize that that is a scary thing to do. This point shouldn’t be taken lightly. He put his fear of failing aside, capitalized on that seed of an idea, and, as students studying his work, we see how it paid off to take that leap.

Emma Sheer is a senior at DePaul University graduating this June with a B.A. in Public Relations & Advertising, and a minor in French. She is the co-author of an experimental food blog, Cheeky Lil' Salt Cod. You can reach her at sheer.emma@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter: @EmmaSheer.