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Is it always plain sailing downstream?

One of the joys of my role is to be able to attend conferences and listen to fascinating people. Recently, I found myself in the presence of Marc Randolph, co-founder of Netflix.

Be comfortable with feeling foolish until you have done it enough times for it not to matter.

When admiring a successful company, how many of us have thought, if ONLY I had had that idea! Like so many game-changing ideas, Netflix was not born of a eureka! moment. It was a grind that built on the work of Blockbuster and Lovefilm (remember them?). Marc recounted the seemingly endless process of evolution with crisis after crisis in making the dream work. However for him, the fear of failure was all that was ever going to prevent the idea from developing and ultimately succeeding. He went on, Be comfortable with feeling foolish until you have done it enough times for it not to matter.

As I reflect on this and the increasing pressure on young minds these days, more than ever we need to let them fall and for them to know that it doesn’t matter if they make mistakes, however small or large. Encouraging that mindset is how we will produce the Bezos, Branson, Dyson or Randolph of the future. That’s what I really want for all at Russell House.

Craig McCarthy
Headmaster

Tagged  Whole school