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The question

How has a setback or failure set you up for later success?
N. R. Narayana Murthy

Co-founder and former chairman of Infosys

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
I will begin with the importance of learning from experience. It is less important, I believe, where you start. It is more important how and what you learn. If the quality of the learning is high, the development gradient is steep, and, given time, you can find yourself in a previously unattainable place. I believe the Infosys story is living proof of this. Learning from experience, however, can be complicated. It can be much more difficult to learn from success than from failure. If we fail, we think carefully about the precise cause. Success can indiscriminately reinforce all our prior actions.

New York University Stern School of Business pre-commencement lecture, 9 May 2007, Rediff, 28 May 2007 source ↗

Others on this question

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Peyton Manning American football quarterback
That's a real challenge and a real issue. Reading the statistics, they had a ranking of quarterbacks, and the statistic was the percentage of a touchdown drive after an interception. To me, that is a telling statistic. The guys that have a high percentage are the guys that have short memories. They talk about having amnesia as a quarterback. You better move along from it. It is hard to say you forget about it, because you want to learn from it. You want to address it. You can't just say it never happened.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interviewer, Academy of Achievement interview, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1 April 2007 source ↗
Frederick Sanger Biochemist; twice a Nobel laureate in Chemistry, 1958 and 1980
They’re not failures, you try something and it doesn’t work, and some people, you know, get fed up with this, and I’ve known some of my friends and colleagues who have just decided to give up science because they can’t stand it, but I’ve always decided, you know, if it doesn’t work, forget it and start planning the next experiment, and that’s always exciting.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 28 October 2000 source ↗
Angela Merkel Chancellor of Germany, 2005–2021; Leader of the Christian Democratic Union 2000–2018
The Berlin Wall limited my opportunities. It quite literally stood in my way. However, there was one thing which this wall couldn't do through all those years: It couldn't impose limits on my inner thoughts, my personality, my imagination, my dreams and desires.
Recorded Tercentenary Theatre, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, The Harvard Gazette, Harvard University, 30 May 2019 source ↗
Joan Didion American writer
Yeah. It’s a grandiose reaction. You are claiming you could really control this, but you failed.
Recorded Academy of Achievement, Academy of Achievement interview, New York, New York, 1 April 2005 source ↗

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