Failure and Imagination: Lessons from J.K. Rowling's Harvard Speech

On 5 June 2008, author J.K. Rowling gave the commencement address at Harvard University. Its title was "The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination". The speech became one of the most widely watched commencement talks online, and in 2015 it was published as a small book, Very Good Lives, with proceeds going to charity.

This page originally pointed readers to videos about failure and imagination. Rowling's speech covers both themes, so here's an overview of what she argued and how you might use it.

The benefits of failure

Rowling spoke openly about the period around seven years after her own graduation, when she described herself as having failed on an epic scale: a short-lived marriage had ended, she was a single parent and she was, in her words, as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain without being homeless.

Her argument was not that poverty or failure are romantic. She was clear that poverty is frightening and humiliating. Instead, she suggested that hitting rock bottom stripped away everything inessential. With nothing left to lose, she stopped pretending to be something she wasn't and directed her energy into the one work that mattered to her: writing.

She also said that failure taught her things about herself she couldn't have learned any other way, including that she had a strong will and more discipline than she'd suspected, and that she had friends whose value was beyond price.

The importance of imagination

The second half of the speech moved to imagination, but not mainly in the sense of inventing stories. Rowling spoke about her early twenties working in the research department at Amnesty International's headquarters in London, where she read testimonies from people who had suffered torture and persecution.

She argued that imagination is the uniquely human capacity to envision what is not, and, more importantly, to empathise with people whose experiences we've never shared. She warned against choosing not to know about the suffering of others, and urged graduates, many of whom would have power and influence, to use their imagination on behalf of people with none.

Applying the ideas

When you fail, look for what's essential. After a setback, ask: what does this reveal about what matters to me? What can I stop pretending about?

Notice what failure teaches about you. Many people discover resilience, resourcefulness or friendships they didn't know they had. Write those down.

Separate failure from identity. Rowling's point was that failing at something isn't the same as being a failure. Our article on making mistakes and overcoming them has practical steps.

Practise imaginative empathy. Before judging someone, try to picture their circumstances. Read fiction and first-hand accounts from people whose lives are very different from yours.

Use whatever influence you have. You don't need to be powerful to make a difference. Speaking up, giving, volunteering and voting are all ways of using imagination on behalf of others. See small ways to make a big difference.

Watch or read it

The full text is published by the Harvard Gazette, and video of the speech is available from Harvard. It's about twenty minutes long and worth the time.

A reflection exercise

Write about one failure in your life that, looking back, taught you something important. What did it strip away? What did it reveal? Then write about one person or group whose experience you'd like to understand better, and one way you could learn more.