As part of the UCF College of Business Administration’s (#UCFBusiness’) unique college culture, students are taught to not only celebrate successes, but to embrace and learn from their failures.
The sixth installment of Dean Paul Jarley’s Failure Competition began on Monday, February 23rd, 2015. This semester, the dean has invited every enrolled UCF student to participate in the program that has historically been limited to the college’s Capstone management class. All Knights have the opportunity to win cash prizes and a coveted recommendation from the dean by sharing a story of failure and the lessons learned as a result.
An avid blogger, Jarley wrote about the importance of learning from failure. “Only through failure will our students find great success. So, in many ways, failure is the doorway to greatness, we just aren’t comfortable with that idea. All the iconic business stories have failure right in the middle of them. Yet we push our students hard to be uncomfortable with failure so that when it inevitably happens, it is devastating to them.”
What started out as a “crazy idea” from Dean Jarley has become a #UCFBusiness tradition. Last semester nearly 1,000 #UCFBusiness students entered and more than 3,000 votes were cast on the dean’s website for the finalists.
“Despite what helicopter parents think, everyone fails. It is part of life,” said Jarley. “Getting comfortable with failure is a key step in becoming a better risk–taker and successful business leader. That is why we celebrate failure and persistence in the college.”
The winner of the Failure Competition will take home a prize of $500, as well as a letter of recommendation from Dean Jarley.
Students can enter by posting an essay as a response to the dean’s blog post (found at https://pauljarley.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/a-failure-competition-for-all-squires/) by March 20th at 5 pm.
About the College of Business Administration:
Established in 1968, the UCF College of Business Administration offers degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, and executive levels. All programs, as well as the Kenneth G. Dixon School of Accounting are accredited by AACSB International – the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
The college provides high-quality academic programs designed to give students a competitive advantage in the world of business now and in the future. As such, the college establishes partnerships with some of the nation’s most innovative leaders to model new and best practices that harness evolving technology. In addition, the college promotes a unique culture of engagement, risk-taking, cross-disciplinary collaboration and data-driven decision making in an effort to ensure students are well prepared to enter a dynamic marketplace.
America’s Partnership University:
The University of Central Florida, the nation’s second-largest university with nearly 60,000 students, has grown in size, quality, diversity and reputation in its first 50 years. Today, the university offers more than 200 degree programs at its main campus in Orlando and more than a dozen other locations. UCF is an economic engine attracting and supporting industries vital to the region’s future while providing students with real-world experiences that help them succeed after graduation. For more information, visit https://www.ucf.edu/news/.