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In my opinion | The road to success is paved with failure

16/12/2019

Although merely twenty years have lapsed, we can already safely assume that Elon Musk will be crowned as one the most prominent innovators of the 21st century. After reading his biography, it has become apparent that his exceptional intelligence was a prerequisite, but not key to all his successes. Musk’s ability to persevere, while enduring tremendous pressure and pushback, has forever changed the automobile industry and lies at the basis of a space exploration revolution.

This all came at a tremendous personal price. As a child, Musk was severely bullied, his parents divorced when he was nine, and he lived mostly separated from his siblings. At a very young age, he left South Africa and migrated to North America, with minimal financial means.

After initial success with Zip2 and investing all his Paypal earnings ($180 million) into Tesla and SpaceX, by 2008, as a consequence of manufacturing delays and three failed rocket launches, both companies were on the verge of bankruptcy. But Musk persevered, he didn’t quit, which has become his trademark. During a longform interview with Joe Rogan, the words “You don’t want to be me” resonated online.

How different is Laurent Simons’ story. A personalized trajectory, not involving interactions or collaborative projects with other students, but with fulltime supervision by an experienced professor, was put in place. The 9-year-old Electrical Engineering student was ‘launched’ to become the youngest individual obtaining a bachelor’s degree. Unfortunately, when it recently became apparent that this ambition was unrealistic, his parents terminated Laurent Simons’ pursuit to obtain a degree at our university.

Laurent Simons may be the most intelligent person that has set foot on TU/e campus. He is able to complete any course and acquire every degree the university has to offer, at unprecedented pace. In contrast to Musk’s life, Simons is growing up in a sterile environment, an artificial reality shaped and vigorously protected by his parents. From all the interviews available, it appears that ‘failure’ is eliminated from his upbringing.

This is unfortunate and may not serve him well in the future. This case is, however, also a sign of times, a reflection of parenting and the education system in the West. I think it urges us to reflect on what are the most valuable traits that we can equip the next generation with to ensure a prosperous and sustainable future. Life is not an exam.

Willem Mulder is professor of Precision Medicine at the department of Biomedical Engineering. 

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