{"id":19194,"date":"2023-09-01T08:05:26","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T08:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/?p=19194"},"modified":"2023-10-06T14:21:37","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T14:21:37","slug":"falling-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/falling-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Denzel Washington on Falling Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>TLDR: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Denzel Washington\u2019s famous University of Pennsylvania commencement speech encouraged students not to fear failure and to take risks to grow and succeed. Washington emphasized that the world needed the students\u2019 abilities and talents to overcome poverty and other problems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>So What? <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Denzel Washington is charismatic, and his mixture of humility, insight, and humor is a good antidote for those struggling with challenges in their personal or professional life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JEFbfwg9dek?si=KnH0nOme-aI3SqY0\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"&quot;\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Denzel Washington has given several successful commencement speeches over his career, but none are as well known as his address at the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rev.com\/blog\/transcripts\/denzel-washington-fall-forward-commencement-speech-transcript\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">University of Pennsylvania<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Through humor, humility, and experience, Washington discusses the importance of never giving up and never allowing yourself to fall backward due to fear.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His crucial statement, \u201cIf you don\u2019t fail, you\u2019re not even trying,\u201d forms the backbone of a worldview where perseverance and discipline are the keys to reaching our full potential.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>A Fine Point on Humor<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like many commencement speeches, Washington\u2019s starts with humor: his natural charisma and affable knowledge of the campus. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After good-naturedly ribbing the basketball coach for not giving his son enough playing time, he mentions a well-known squirrel infestation that draws the student body to launch and cheer. His connection to the campus, his son, and the student body is readily apparent and sets the stage for him to appear as a parental figure\u2013knowing, wise, funny, and patient.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is why he does so seemingly effortlessly when he transitions into the point of his speech\u2013falling forward<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using humor can be a double-edged sword for communicators if it takes them off their topic or becomes a distraction, but it can also loosen up the audience so that they are paying close attention to the message when it comes. When Washington finally gets to the point, the humor with which he started serves him well in showing humility as the next aspect of his speech.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Holding onto Humility<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Washington is one of his generation&#8217;s biggest movie stars. Yet, he\u2019s quick to admit that he is nervous about giving the speech, outside his usual wheelhouse of acting in movies and not seeing the audience. It is here that he slides into the meat of the speech:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI had to come, even though I feared I might make a fool of myself. In fact, if you want to know the truth, I had to come exactly because\u2026 I had to come exactly because I might make a fool of myself. Now, what am I talking about? Here it is.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Washington\u2019s message\u2013that failing is part of a successful life\u2013would not come across the same way without his humility in sharing some of his failures (his first Broadway tryout) and foibles (like his current state of anxiety and disorganization) with his audience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His entire message (don\u2019t be afraid to fail because failure is often a precursor to success) is supported by his history as someone who continually failed, tried again, failed again, and ultimately found success.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-19199\" src=\"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2.jpeg-min.jpg\" alt=\"university \" width=\"780\" height=\"520\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2.jpeg-min.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2.jpeg-min-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2.jpeg-min-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2.jpeg-min-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2.jpeg-min-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Failing Forward and Living Without Regret<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Washington shared several experiences of \u201cfalling forward\u201d and risking failure that helped make his points. He tells the story about his first musical theater audition\u2013a role he sought when, in reality, he couldn\u2019t sing, and he didn\u2019t know how to act on Broadway.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI didn\u2019t get the job,\u201d he says. \u201cBut here\u2019s the thing. I didn\u2019t quit. I didn\u2019t fall back. I walked out of there to prepare for the next audition and the next audition. I prayed. I prayed, and I prayed. But I continued to fail and fail and fail.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This isn\u2019t just a call to take chances, however. Washington asks the assembled crowd to think, &#8220;How many ghosts are going to be around your bed when your time comes?\u201d These ghosts are, for Washington, a lost opportunity:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cImagine you\u2019re on your deathbed, and standing around your deathbed are the ghosts representing your unfulfilled potential, the ghost of the ideas you never acted on, the ghost of the talents you didn\u2019t use. And they\u2019re standing around your bed, angry, disappointed, and upset. They say, \u2018We came to you because you could have brought us to life,\u2019 they say. \u2018And now we have to go to the grave together.&#8217;\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This motivation isn\u2019t about earning more money or gaining more power or status\u2013it\u2019s about changing the world. Washington notes that he just came back from South Africa and saw poverty and a need for help on a global scale:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAfrica is just the tip of the iceberg,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Middle East needs your help. Japan needs your help. Alabama needs your help. Tennessee needs your help. Louisiana needs your help. Philadelphia needs your help. The world needs a lot, and we need it from you. We do. We need it from you, young people.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2><strong>Making Action Part of Your Life<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Washington connects \u201cdoing\u201d with \u201cchanging,\u201d and in doing so, takes the excitement and responsibility from the last generation\u2019s shoulders and puts it on the shoulders of these graduates. And, in doing so, he asks them to challenge themselves. To change the world, you can\u2019t be afraid to fail. You\u2019re going to fail hundreds of times in your life. Change and success come from continuing to do what you do every day.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you need help crafting effective communication for your target audience, Media Shower wants to use our expertise for your benefit. <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/mediashower.com\/user\/free_trial?__mscta=2822_97621_162\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Get a free trial<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and find out for yourself.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/content-marketing-plan-template\/?__mscta=2965_97621_162\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-19200\" src=\"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/3-1.png\" alt=\"CTA master plan\" width=\"680\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/3-1.png 680w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/3-1-300x106.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Denzel Washington\u2019s UPenn commencement address in 2011 used humor, humility, and experience to encourage students not to fear failure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":19195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[459],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19194"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19194"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19201,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19194\/revisions\/19201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}