Renowned Korean American serial entrepreneur John Suh said kids have to be allowed to fail in order to succeed, as he addressed parents in Seoul during the second installment of a thought leadership series modeled after TED Talks.
The series, dubbed Dulwich Talks after its host pre-K-12 international school Dulwich College Seoul (DCSL), aims to help parents support their children as they navigate the rapidly changing world and grapple with challenges such as the climate crisis, social shifts, and the tech advances of the fourth industrial revolution.
Thought leaders are invited to share their experiences, knowledge, and tools to inspire parents as they help future generations of children pave a path towards discovering their passion and purpose. Speakers are carefully curated from diverse areas of expertise including the arts, architecture, entertainment, IT, sustainability, human rights, and entrepreneurship, to name a few.
Former LegalZoom CEO Suh addressed parents on March 3, drawing on the lessons of his 25 years in various leadership roles, during which he has raised over $1.5 billion of capital and helped form over two million small businesses. The prominent tech investor currently sits on various company boards, is an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at Sookmyung Women’s University and is working on several new business ventures.
“You can’t be a successful entrepreneur if you’re a perfectionist because you have to allow yourself to fail and develop grit,” Suh told parents as delivered his talk under the title, ‘Fostering Future Entrepreneurs and Risk-Takers’. In speaking about the importance of grit as a prerequisite for entrepreneurs, he said people are often seen as foolish when trying something seven times despite continually failing. “But if they succeed on the eighth try and turn it into a billion dollar business, suddenly they’re a genius.”
Suh added it’s a different definition of failure. “Let children figure things out and take responsibility for their own actions. If they think like everyone else, they won’t be able to solve problems.”
That does not mean taking “naked risks,” however. Suh adds that entrepreneurs are not the frivolous risk-takers that people often think they are. “They manage risks. They are ok with the probability of failure because every failure is a learning opportunity. The redefinition of failure and learning experiences are at the root of entrepreneurship.”
Suh said immigrants of Korean descent have the second highest propensity for small business ownership in the US after immigrants of Iranian descent, according to a 2012 study by the Partnership for a New American Economy. Korea was the only Asian country besides Vietnam in the top 10, which included Brazil, Italy, Poland, Germany, Colombia and Cuba, among others.
Dulwich Talks’ inaugural speaker was award-winning U.S.-based author and InnovatorsBox Founder/CEO Monica Kang. Underscoring the thought leadership platform’s goal of hearing from speakers with unique insights about global issues that affect us, Kang is both a former nuclear weapon security expert and an internationally recognized speaker and coach in workplace creativity with clients including Google, Dell and IBM. Her talk emphasized the importance of igniting a creative mindset in children, as she told parents that “innovation is key to everything.”
Similar to TED Talks, Dulwich Talks seeks to reach a broader audience online and the recordings are available on the school’s youtube channel (John Suh’s talk to be posted soon). The talk series is one of a number of initiatives that DSCL is undertaking to help parents support their children as they grow into global citizens making a positive impact in the world.
“Dulwich Talks are about inspiring parents and the broader community through thought leadership to ask tough questions, foster rich discussion and learn through shared experiences about the global issues we face today. They’re designed to spark parents’ engagement in issues facing our students and the wider world,” said Gudmundur Hegner Jonsson, Head of College. “Academic excellence, sustainability and community are three values we hold dear and we always strive to ensure our learning environment evolves to meet global challenges.”
