0:00:15.439,0:00:19.069
Do you know why I'm standing here [br]in front of you all?

0:00:19.069,0:00:20.669
Neediness.

0:00:21.769,0:00:22.978
It's true.

0:00:22.978,0:00:25.858
Every writer is needy[br]because every writer is lonely.

0:00:25.858,0:00:31.334
He sits in front of a blank page,[br]trying to come up with a sentence.

0:00:31.334,0:00:32.805
Deep down, there is a void.

0:00:32.805,0:00:37.084
He enters a crowded auditorium like this[br]and sees people applaud him,

0:00:37.084,0:00:40.853
he wants to keep standing[br]hoping they'll continue to clap.

0:00:40.866,0:00:43.776
No one applauds a book.[br]Have you ever seen that?

0:00:43.778,0:00:49.178
You get a book, you like it, love it,[br]put it on the table and start to clap.

0:00:50.015,0:00:51.617
No one does that.

0:00:51.617,0:00:55.695
When I was in high school,[br]I had a friend named João.

0:00:55.695,0:00:58.727
He had to take a vocational test

0:00:58.727,0:01:02.247
and the psychologist asked him,[br]"What do you want to be?"

0:01:02.247,0:01:04.568
He asked, "Which career[br]gets the most applause?"

0:01:04.568,0:01:07.602
She replied, "Clown."[br]He said, "I want to do that."

0:01:07.602,0:01:14.066
And today he's a great clown.[br]He's found his success.

0:01:14.067,0:01:17.217
But I don't know if they told you[br]that our topic is the opposite.

0:01:17.217,0:01:19.854
Our topic is "failure."

0:01:19.854,0:01:22.594
Do you know the difference[br]between failure and defeat?

0:01:22.594,0:01:24.629
Let's not confuse them, OK?

0:01:24.629,0:01:28.851
Defeat is when you go out[br]at night to a party

0:01:28.861,0:01:31.731
and a girl rejects you.[br]It's a huge blow.

0:01:31.731,0:01:33.121
You go back home, frustrated.

0:01:33.121,0:01:36.201
Failure is much worse.[br]Failure depends on a project.

0:01:36.201,0:01:37.761
You spend time on it,

0:01:37.761,0:01:41.867
and afterward you try[br]to achieve it and you can't.

0:01:41.867,0:01:45.393
Failure is very lonely.

0:01:45.393,0:01:50.589
Failure shows you a blank screen[br]when you expect it to show something more.

0:01:50.589,0:01:57.190
"Failure has no friends."[br]This quote is from former president JFK.

0:01:57.840,0:02:01.766
When he said "failure has no friends,"[br]he wanted to say exactly what I just said,

0:02:01.766,0:02:07.473
that failure is full of loneliness,[br]which is the opposite of success.

0:02:07.473,0:02:09.297
Let's observe this.

0:02:09.297,0:02:11.735
When one of our projects is successful,

0:02:11.735,0:02:15.804
the success belongs to everyone[br]who took part in it,

0:02:15.804,0:02:19.465
but when you fail,[br]the failure is only yours.

0:02:19.465,0:02:24.071
Failure has no friends.[br]Failure is also lonely.

0:02:24.071,0:02:26.250
Success should be shared with everyone.

0:02:26.250,0:02:29.870
We should accept failure[br]because failure is only ours.

0:02:29.870,0:02:33.323
I've had many during my life.[br]I have them every day.

0:02:33.323,0:02:36.129
I failed in almost all my projects.

0:02:36.129,0:02:39.847
But I go from one failure to another[br]with great enthusiasm.

0:02:39.847,0:02:42.408
I fail willingly, I fail with strength.

0:02:42.408,0:02:47.045
I go back and fail again,[br]I'm very stubborn.

0:02:47.045,0:02:49.192
Then I return to the blank screen.

0:02:49.977,0:02:54.627
This guy changes our concept[br]of failure, don't you think?

0:02:54.627,0:02:57.177
Because it would be [br]really easy if I could ask you,

0:02:57.177,0:02:58.857
"What have I learned from failure?"

0:02:58.857,0:03:03.127
That's the question of this lecture.[br]What did you learn from failure?

0:03:03.127,0:03:05.734
Is it possible to learn [br]something from failure?

0:03:05.734,0:03:08.311
This man... where is he?

0:03:09.184,0:03:12.550
Behind here? There? I don't see him.

0:03:12.550,0:03:16.342
This man changes our notion of failure.

0:03:16.342,0:03:18.441
Have you ever seen[br]someone fail on Facebook?

0:03:18.441,0:03:20.411
There's no way.

0:03:20.411,0:03:23.251
Everyone is successful [br]on Facebook. It's amazing.

0:03:23.251,0:03:25.557
Everyone seems like the King of England.

0:03:25.557,0:03:29.932
Everyone is partying,[br]everyone has yachts, cars...

0:03:29.932,0:03:32.780
although some of those cars[br]have been stolen by politicians.

0:03:32.780,0:03:36.699
Everyone is always happy on Facebook,[br]no one has failures on social media.

0:03:36.699,0:03:39.287
I've never seen anyone [br]post a photo at the dentist.

0:03:39.287,0:03:43.063
"A 'selfie' of my 4th cavity."[br]Have you ever seen that?

0:03:43.063,0:03:46.314
No one posts a selfie[br]at the dentist on Facebook.

0:03:46.314,0:03:48.399
There is no standing ovation.

0:03:48.399,0:03:51.699
There is no applause[br]because everyone is being applauded.

0:03:51.703,0:03:54.873
Facebook changed that notion[br]and gives us the illusion

0:03:54.873,0:03:56.418
that everyone is successful.

0:03:56.418,0:04:00.318
No one posts their failures.[br]No one shares them on social media.

0:04:00.318,0:04:03.014
That's what we need to start doing.

0:04:03.014,0:04:07.661
Life is not how our beloved[br]Mark Zuckerberg presents it to us,

0:04:07.661,0:04:10.621
because, unfortunately,[br]failures are a real part of life.

0:04:10.628,0:04:14.588
It's a neurological matter.[br]"Sadness has no end. Happiness does."

0:04:14.601,0:04:16.333
You've heard this saying.

0:04:16.333,0:04:22.721
This saying means that failures[br]are far more important to us than success.

0:04:22.721,0:04:25.041
Can we learn from our failures?

0:04:25.041,0:04:30.501
I don't know. Self-help gurus think so.[br]Paulo Coelho would get excited over this.

0:04:30.501,0:04:32.956
He'd say: "No, the universe[br]conspires in your favor.

0:04:32.956,0:04:34.791
You will learn and be successful,

0:04:34.791,0:04:37.271
and from failure to failure,[br]you will find success."

0:04:37.271,0:04:41.359
I don't know, I really don't know,[br]and I won't mislead you.

0:04:41.359,0:04:44.321
Do you see that person marked with red?

0:04:44.321,0:04:45.935
That's me.

0:04:45.935,0:04:48.765
It doesn't look like me,[br]but that's me in high school.

0:04:48.765,0:04:51.817
Do you know who that guy is,[br]in the middle, holding champagne?

0:04:51.817,0:04:54.839
My friend João who became a clown.

0:04:54.839,0:05:00.009
The end-of-year party, end of high school,[br]and he's holding champagne.

0:05:00.009,0:05:03.286
I look at this photo and wonder:

0:05:03.286,0:05:07.233
I think the first step towards failure[br]is to have many expectations,

0:05:07.233,0:05:10.785
to think like João, although he made it,

0:05:10.785,0:05:14.838
that, ultimately, people will applaud you[br]and give you a standing ovation.

0:05:14.838,0:05:16.119
João had another dream.

0:05:16.119,0:05:18.779
He said: "My goal is not only[br]to be applauded,

0:05:18.779,0:05:21.328
they have to clap for at least 30 seconds,

0:05:21.336,0:05:25.236
because if it's less than that[br]it's not applause, it's just clapping.

0:05:25.236,0:05:28.102
So I want to be a clown[br]who will be applauded."

0:05:28.102,0:05:30.038
That's a huge problem.

0:05:30.038,0:05:35.304
The beginning of failure is anxiety,[br]and failure is full of anxiety.

0:05:35.304,0:05:38.983
We always project[br]what we want as a reward

0:05:38.983,0:05:41.980
and if you start a project[br]wanting the reward,

0:05:41.980,0:05:43.615
you're starting wrong.

0:05:43.615,0:05:45.599
The only right way to start

0:05:45.599,0:05:50.156
is to know that true applause,[br]standing ovation,

0:05:50.156,0:05:54.310
is in the journey, not at the end of it.

0:05:54.310,0:05:58.098
There is no paved road;[br]walking creates the road, my friends.

0:05:58.098,0:06:02.571
It's not the goal you must pursue,[br]it's the journey towards the goal

0:06:02.582,0:06:06.025
where my friend João finds applause.

0:06:07.305,0:06:10.955
Here you see almost all the books[br]I wrote in my life.

0:06:10.958,0:06:13.505
All of them were huge failures.

0:06:13.505,0:06:17.731
I never won the Jabuti Prize.[br]I was a finalist twice, but I never won.

0:06:17.731,0:06:20.829
I never deserved critical acclaim.

0:06:20.829,0:06:24.873
That red book in the corner[br]is a book about breakups,

0:06:24.873,0:06:26.769
about my love failures.

0:06:26.769,0:06:30.679
It's called, "A kiss on the forehead[br]is worse than a breakup."

0:06:30.679,0:06:32.924
Isn't that right? Can you imagine it?

0:06:32.924,0:06:35.549
Your husband kisses you[br]on the forehead, "Bye, love,"...

0:06:35.549,0:06:37.279
Forget it, he's seeing someone else.

0:06:37.279,0:06:39.509
(Laughter)

0:06:40.229,0:06:43.508
No one leaves and gives a kiss[br]on the forehead, right?

0:06:45.128,0:06:48.828
I wrote books about journalism,[br]I wrote three novels,

0:06:48.828,0:06:51.265
I wrote a biography.

0:06:51.265,0:06:53.096
None of them were successful.

0:06:53.096,0:06:55.481
You probably didn't even know[br]I was a writer.

0:06:55.481,0:06:59.053
I guess none of you here[br]have read any of my books.

0:06:59.693,0:07:01.223
Who reads in Brazil?

0:07:01.223,0:07:03.294
Being a writer is a lonely job,

0:07:03.294,0:07:06.698
which brings us back to our[br]beloved John Kennedy.

0:07:06.698,0:07:10.338
"Failure has no friends."[br]We live in solitude.

0:07:10.351,0:07:14.855
Although I think Kennedy [br]had many friends, did he not?

0:07:14.855,0:07:19.462
That's OK... but then maybe not.[br]It was a tragic death.

0:07:19.462,0:07:23.096
A tragic death of a man [br]who served his country.

0:07:23.096,0:07:25.646
But do you know what I remember [br]most about Kennedy?

0:07:25.646,0:07:27.686
Not me, my clown friend João.

0:07:27.686,0:07:29.260
Do you know what he'd tell me?

0:07:29.260,0:07:30.875
"Look, Felipe,

0:07:30.875,0:07:36.559
what I remember most[br]about John Kennedy is Marilyn Monroe."

0:07:36.559,0:07:40.883
Do you remember that scene,[br]"Happy birthday, Mr. President?"

0:07:40.893,0:07:42.337
Do you remember that scene?

0:07:42.337,0:07:45.917
It's a scene where she sings[br]"Happy birthday to you" to the president.

0:07:45.933,0:07:48.226
Do you know why João liked that scene?

0:07:48.226,0:07:50.385
He would say: "Think about it, Felipe.

0:07:50.385,0:07:53.675
Happy birthday to you![br]People are already clapping.

0:07:53.675,0:07:56.563
No one needs to get up[br]because everyone is already standing.

0:07:56.563,0:07:58.203
That's what I want in life.

0:07:58.203,0:08:02.232
I want to be a clown so Marilyn Monroe[br]can sing 'Happy Birthday' to me."

0:08:02.232,0:08:03.671
Again, the same mistake.

0:08:03.671,0:08:09.361
We want the reward before the journey,[br]but the journey brings the reward.

0:08:10.231,0:08:17.008
Here you can see a photo of me,[br]somewhat happy, I think you can tell,

0:08:17.008,0:08:21.116
with children from the Alemão favela[br]in Rio de Janeiro.

0:08:21.116,0:08:26.497
Those children were at the launch[br]of a book I wrote for them in 2012.

0:08:26.497,0:08:29.078
The launch was at the National Library.

0:08:29.078,0:08:34.512
Those children had never visited a palace[br]as big as the National Library.

0:08:34.520,0:08:36.531
I wrote a book whose proceeds

0:08:36.531,0:08:41.119
went to a mobile library[br]in the Alemão favela,

0:08:41.119,0:08:43.259
so that the kids could read.

0:08:43.259,0:08:44.731
But the book was a big flop,

0:08:44.731,0:08:47.702
and we couldn't raise[br]the money to build it.

0:08:48.872,0:08:50.648
But that photo is there.

0:08:50.648,0:08:52.716
There is a lesson from the failure:

0:08:52.716,0:08:56.474
even in the worst of failures,[br]there are moments of success.

0:08:56.474,0:08:58.340
That was my moment of success.

0:08:58.340,0:09:01.150
That photo with the children,[br]that happiness,

0:09:01.150,0:09:03.899
is something I'll take [br]with me forever and never forget.

0:09:03.899,0:09:08.648
And every time I go up the Alemão favela[br]and read to the children,

0:09:08.648,0:09:11.279
I see those same smiles,[br]and it's gratifying,

0:09:11.279,0:09:14.293
despite my failure [br]and the failure of our project,

0:09:14.293,0:09:17.629
of the book that couldn't build [br]the mobile library for them.

0:09:17.629,0:09:22.359
There are moments of success[br]in the worst of failures.

0:09:22.359,0:09:25.540
What you see here is a documentary [br]I released last year.

0:09:25.551,0:09:27.725
It's called "If this town weren't mine."

0:09:27.725,0:09:30.312
It's a documentary about [br]a community, Vila Autódromo,

0:09:30.312,0:09:32.802
located next to an Olympic Park [br]in Rio de Janeiro.

0:09:32.802,0:09:37.848
We all celebrate the Olympics in Rio,[br]but forget about the thousands of people

0:09:37.848,0:09:40.327
who are being evacuated [br]from their homes in the city

0:09:40.327,0:09:42.422
because of the Olympics.

0:09:42.422,0:09:47.190
This community, located right next [br]to the park, had 583 families.

0:09:47.196,0:09:51.037
They were evicted[br]so the Olympics could take place.

0:09:51.037,0:09:53.786
Is that success?

0:09:53.786,0:09:56.641
Does the failure of the people [br]who are leaving the place

0:09:56.641,0:09:58.471
where they've lived for 40 years,

0:09:58.471,0:10:00.534
since they're being evicted by the mayor,

0:10:00.534,0:10:03.322
cause success in the games[br]for millions of people,

0:10:03.322,0:10:05.960
billions of people[br]who'll be watching around the world?

0:10:05.960,0:10:07.722
Is there no other alternative?

0:10:07.722,0:10:11.427
Couldn't there be a social legacy[br]to leave all those people there?

0:10:11.427,0:10:17.895
I made this film, directed it, funded it,[br]summoned three friends to help me

0:10:17.902,0:10:20.815
- director of photography, sound, editing.

0:10:20.815,0:10:25.941
We showed the film in China,[br]the film was in festivals in Europe,

0:10:25.941,0:10:29.671
it won a festival in Beijing,[br]but it wasn't shown anywhere in Brazil.

0:10:29.671,0:10:31.570
It was a huge failure.

0:10:31.570,0:10:36.814
We couldn't mobilize the society,[br]and those people are about to be evicted.

0:10:36.814,0:10:42.082
Of the 583 families,[br]530 have already left.

0:10:42.082,0:10:46.032
The government and the mayor [br]destroy part of Rio's poor population,

0:10:46.032,0:10:49.086
while the country and the world [br]celebrate the Olympics.

0:10:49.086,0:10:52.386
Is that success or failure?

0:10:53.225,0:10:58.709
These are the people, and I failed them.[br]They are the residents of Vila Autódromo.

0:10:58.709,0:11:01.902
They are the people in the film[br]"If this town weren't mine."

0:11:01.902,0:11:05.863
I look at each one of them,[br]I look at their families,

0:11:05.863,0:11:10.108
and I look in the mirror and think,[br]"Felipe Pena, you're a failure.

0:11:10.108,0:11:12.936
You couldn't help those people[br]with your film."

0:11:12.936,0:11:15.374
Even though it was shown[br]throughout the whole world,

0:11:15.374,0:11:18.486
those people continue to suffer [br]the same problem.

0:11:18.486,0:11:22.147
Those people continue to live[br]under the same dictatorship

0:11:22.147,0:11:26.842
of the government of Rio de Janeiro[br]that evicted them for the Olympics.

0:11:26.842,0:11:30.438
If you were an Olympic athlete,[br]do you think it would be worth it?

0:11:30.438,0:11:32.866
Is having a medal on your chest

0:11:32.866,0:11:36.770
worth the cost of the suffering of others,[br]like you're seeing here?

0:11:36.770,0:11:38.712
I always ask myself the same question.

0:11:38.712,0:11:40.828
That person you see there

0:11:41.858,0:11:45.525
was a director of the 4th largest[br]TV station in the country.

0:11:45.525,0:11:47.808
That's me, although it doesn't look it.

0:11:47.808,0:11:50.353
Of course, I failed [br]as a director at TV Globo.

0:11:50.353,0:11:53.259
Do you know how long[br]I worked there? Five months.

0:11:53.259,0:11:56.138
Five months, just like[br]the Minister of Education, I remember,

0:11:56.138,0:11:58.968
"a country of education."

0:11:58.968,0:12:01.210
Minister Janine was only[br]five months in office.

0:12:01.210,0:12:03.180
Where did we go wrong, Minister? Tell me.

0:12:03.180,0:12:06.534
I know: I think we went wrong in politics,

0:12:06.534,0:12:11.812
because now that we have[br]a government tainted by corruption,

0:12:11.812,0:12:14.856
we believe that politics [br]is worthless, but it isn't!

0:12:14.856,0:12:18.536
If you can't find someone worth your vote,[br]you should run for office yourself.

0:12:18.536,0:12:21.877
Politics isn't just about voting.[br]Politics isn't just about Brasília.

0:12:21.877,0:12:24.179
Politics means talking to people.

0:12:24.179,0:12:26.484
In my role as director of content analysis

0:12:26.484,0:12:30.515
I should have talked to the screenwriters[br]at TV Globo about their mistakes.

0:12:30.515,0:12:33.110
But I did that[br]in highly technical reports.

0:12:33.110,0:12:34.872
I did my post-doctorate at Sorbonne.

0:12:34.872,0:12:37.510
I thought I had the technical [br]knowledge to do this,

0:12:37.510,0:12:40.765
but I had to do more,[br]I had to talk and I didn't,

0:12:40.765,0:12:43.263
and because of that[br]I left after five months.

0:12:43.263,0:12:45.857
We were easily overthrown,[br]the Minister and I.

0:12:45.857,0:12:48.567
It's easy to be overthrown[br]when you can't do politics.

0:12:48.567,0:12:54.278
Doing politics is necessary.[br]Success and failure depend on it.

0:12:55.974,0:12:58.634
I was also a screenwriter [br]for TV Globo for three years.

0:12:58.634,0:13:01.258
I submitted scripts for evening dramas.

0:13:01.258,0:13:06.247
I submitted 10 proposals for TV series.[br]Do you know how many of them were aired?

0:13:06.247,0:13:07.648
Zero.

0:13:08.308,0:13:09.979
None of them were aired.

0:13:09.979,0:13:13.463
But here's another lesson in failure.[br]Every failure serves a purpose.

0:13:13.463,0:13:16.587
Mine served to write this book[br]that you see here.

0:13:16.587,0:13:19.710
It includes scripts,[br]the script for an evening drama,

0:13:19.710,0:13:23.111
a horror series, and a police series.

0:13:23.111,0:13:27.394
My students can learn from this[br]and understand where I went wrong,

0:13:27.394,0:13:32.649
because in the margin of each script[br]are comments from people who criticized me[br]

0:13:32.649,0:13:34.939
and why the scripts didn't go on air.

0:13:34.939,0:13:37.323
Students can learn from my mistakes.

0:13:37.323,0:13:42.166
My failures in TV are open to anyone[br]who wants to be a screenwriter,

0:13:42.166,0:13:45.040
or wants to work for a TV station.

0:13:45.040,0:13:47.155
Finally, there's this photo here.

0:13:47.155,0:13:49.857
This is a photo of the residents[br]of Vila Autódromo

0:13:49.857,0:13:53.200
watching the film in the community church,

0:13:53.200,0:13:57.420
along with international reporters[br]who I had invited,

0:13:57.420,0:14:00.017
so they could see the hardships[br]in the community.

0:14:00.017,0:14:04.431
Today, a few international media outlets[br]have spoken about the community.

0:14:04.431,0:14:08.473
And now, one last thought for you.

0:14:08.473,0:14:11.456
I don't know if you've heard of[br]the "story of the elbows",

0:14:11.456,0:14:16.101
but I believe it explains the difference[br]between success and failure.

0:14:16.101,0:14:19.361
This is the story of the elbows:

0:14:19.361,0:14:23.190
There was a journalist[br]who wanted to know heaven and hell.

0:14:23.190,0:14:24.919
So first, he went to hell.

0:14:24.919,0:14:29.359
He asked the devil's press officer,[br]"Can I see what hell is like?"

0:14:29.359,0:14:31.367
He said, "Come, my child. You can enter."

0:14:31.367,0:14:35.043
He entered through[br]a gate of fire, turned right,

0:14:35.043,0:14:37.353
and looked at the people[br]in the middle of hell.

0:14:37.353,0:14:43.722
He noticed that everyone was happy,[br]everyone just laughing, no one working.

0:14:43.722,0:14:45.923
It was wonderful in hell.

0:14:45.923,0:14:49.005
But he looked more closely[br]at those happy people,

0:14:49.005,0:14:54.255
laughing, having fun,[br]and noticed they had inverted elbows.

0:14:54.255,0:15:00.157
Because of this, they ended up starving[br]since they couldn't feed themselves.

0:15:00.157,0:15:01.740
So, he ran away from there.

0:15:01.740,0:15:04.283
"I don't want to stay here![br]I don't want to starve!"

0:15:04.283,0:15:08.256
He called Saint Peter and said:[br]"Can I come? I want to see heaven."

0:15:08.256,0:15:11.427
He left, went up, entered a gate[br]of clouds to the right,

0:15:11.427,0:15:12.767
and entered heaven.

0:15:12.767,0:15:16.378
When he arrived at heaven,[br]he noticed the same type of people.

0:15:16.378,0:15:18.399
Everyone was also happy,

0:15:18.399,0:15:23.534
no one working, everyone just having fun,[br]laughing and telling jokes.

0:15:23.534,0:15:26.359
What is he going to do?[br]Look at their elbows, right?[br]

0:15:26.359,0:15:32.619
He looked at their elbows and noticed[br]that they were also inverted.

0:15:32.619,0:15:36.775
The only difference is that, in heaven,[br]the people weren't starving

0:15:36.775,0:15:40.998
because each person feeds the other.

0:15:40.998,0:15:44.385
This is what the residents[br]of Vila Autódromo have learned,

0:15:44.385,0:15:48.725
that together they are strong,[br]and that solidarity is the only solution.

0:15:48.725,0:15:52.954
Today 57 families persevere[br]with inverted elbows,

0:15:52.954,0:15:56.052
placing food in the mouths of one another,

0:15:56.052,0:15:59.939
and myself along with them,[br]emulating that example of solidarity.

0:15:59.939,0:16:02.539
I failed with the movie,[br]failed with books,

0:16:02.539,0:16:05.099
failed in the cinema, failed at TV Globo.

0:16:05.099,0:16:07.915
I can fail with them,[br]but we will fail together.

0:16:07.915,0:16:13.747
There is only failure in division;[br]in solidarity, failure becomes success,

0:16:13.747,0:16:15.311
even if you fail.

0:16:15.311,0:16:18.801
So, I want you all to work together,

0:16:18.801,0:16:23.390
to join your inverted elbows[br]and get a standing ovation

0:16:23.390,0:16:27.513
for 10 minutes, for 10 seconds,[br]for as long as you live,

0:16:27.513,0:16:31.759
as long as your lives are dedicated[br]to moments of solidarity.

0:16:31.759,0:16:33.092
Thank you very much.

0:16:33.092,0:16:35.662
(Applause)

0:17:07.339,0:17:09.256
Thirty seconds. You made my day.

0:17:09.256,0:17:10.830
(Laughter)