Stories of success are incomplete without stories of failures
IN MARCH WE ARE TALKING TO OUR PROVIDER OF THE MONTH, REGINALD. A STORY-TELLER, A PUBLIC SPEAKER, A CO-INITIATOR AND COORDINATOR OF THE FUCKUP NIGHTS (F.U.N.) IN SWITZERLAND.
Since its popularity as a public event among the entrepreneurs, F.U.N. is now entering corporate environments and organizations to help their teams share and learn from failures and become more agile.
Private Fuckup Night event, or as some organizations prefer to call it “Failure Slam”, can now be booked on WeWent.com – check it out!
Read more to get to know Reginald and learn about the impact F.U.N. can have on your organizational culture.
The King of Failure – as he calls himself. The man behind Fuck Up Nights IN SWITZERLAND.
Reginald is a marketing and communication expert based in Geneva, Switzerland with passion for developing ideas and brands. For over 12 years, he has been helping corporates, NGOs, small businesses and entrepreneurs build up their corporate image to achieve their goals.
A connector at heart, through his work he got exposed to different industries, NGOs, and startups. He has seen hundreds of pitch decks and presentations. He had a chance to observe many different corporate cultures. His curiosity, experience and passion brought him to initiating the Fuckup Nights in Switzerland.
… But, what IS FuCKUp Night?
The aim of this inspiring event is to bring together diverse speakers who share stories of their failures and unexpected twists in life or career. And most importantly, how these events have brought them closer to their successes today. In short, successful failures. The Fuckup Nights concept was born in Mexico, but quickly became a global movement (251 cities, 79 countries, 25+ different languages) where stories of failed businesses and projects are shared. It is an event of inspiration where you embrace the motto: “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.”
Why talk about failure and how to do it?
“I started F.U.N. in Switzerland with a simple premise – no one was doing failure, or they were not doing it in a fun way. Secretly, I always wanted to be a stand up comedian. I use humour to connect with the audience when I am facilitating the event” – says Reginald. His main motivation is to make things happen, help people push forward their ideas, in service of facilitating sustainable and meaningful projects. When moderating F.U.N. Reginald’s main focus is on the interaction between the public and speaker. He has an great ability to get people to be honest. And honesty connects.
Since 2014 he moderated and hosted around 50 F.U.N. events, both public and private. The more he delivered, the more popular the event became, and the feedback he was getting was excellent. It was excellent because of his natural ability to connect with crowds and create emotions.“I represent what dealing with failure means and where dealing with failure can take you…” says Reginald. Catastrophic failures and risk factors to be exact.
As a result of the big success of the public events, Reginald got invited to deliver private F.U.N. events for different organizations and networks. In the last 2 years he has worked with companies like Airbus, Vodafone, BOSCH, ROCHE or LinkedIn.
How he makes it safe and cool
When working on private F.U.N. events, Reginald is there to prepare and support the speakers. And with him you can feel safe. He is there to help you make your failure story inspirational. While he brings humour, he is able to engage with the audience of all sizes and seniority. He will support you and make sure you are ready to share your story in front of a public or your own colleagues.
“I believe that everyone has a story and the story can be told if we are clear on its objective. The most important role for me is to help people bring emotions out of their story. While I moderate the audience, I create a sensible intimacy. And I make sure everyone is comfortable with what’s going to be said” – says Reginald.
Why bring failure to organizations?
We all fail. The problem is, most people associate it with defeat. But through those failures, we learn the best lessons. “Failure and more importantly studying others’ misfortunes is one of the most important educational tools we have” – says Jody Greene, in the Forbes article “Why Failure Is So Important To Success”.
And if you think how we learnt when we were babies, it was through failure. We failed a lot until we made that first step. Didn’t just give up. We fell, we got up and we fell again… until we got it!
Since this movement of sharing failure, already exists in the entrepreneurial world, it now enters organizations and corporations. A movement of being bold, adventurous, and unafraid of failing. Failing fast and learning from others’ mistakes. Consequently, a DNA behaviour to be gained by intrapreneurs in large companies.
In conclusion, just imagine, if everyone were humble enough to confess his or her most bitter failures. And all for the purpose of growth, innovation and common improvement in your own team’s or company’s performance.
If you want to give it a try we recommend booking a Fuckup Night Private event – check it out here.
here are Some quick questions to summarize our interview
- WeWent: What are the 3 words that sum up what you do?
Reginald: Inspire, Support, Entertain - WeWent: What people can get out of your events?
Reginald: Entertainment; I take care of the public. Perspective; I make sure they can connect to the stories shared. Authenticity; It’s all about emotions.
