Failing Upwards: People Who Win Even When They Fail 🏆🙄 Explained

[theemii]

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While it can often feel like such a struggle to get ahead for most of us, for some people it just seems like no matter what they do, they keep on moving up - even when they seem to constantly fail. There are a number of reasons people end up in these kinds of protective bubbles that keep them floating upwards. This trope shows up in movies and tv

Comments

[januarysix]

failure post ONTD? I've never been promoted an any job ever. I've always had to leave to another job.

[itsallnotone]

Me too! I've gotten raises, but never a title or role change.

Part of me is well aware that I've brought it upon myself because I don't want the extra responsibility. But it does sting a bit to see my current coworkers getting rewarded faster for doing the same work I do, especially the ones who are younger than me.

[funhouse]

similar to you, i've only progressed by career by moving job.

i've done plenty of temp promotions and got amazing reviews from them but every time been passed over for the permanent roles. 90% of the time in favor of someone who turned out to be totally out of their depth and incompetent and i, having done the role before, was expected to teach them how to do it + do my own job

[awkward_as_heck]

That happened to me too. Held down a department for half a year, didn't get the promotion or the same job in a parallel department. I count myself lucky I got a temporary pay bump for doing that extra work. I've moved on but I'm definitely not looking forward to the qualification grind to keep up.

[archersangel]

Some of "failing upwards" is that people don't want to deal with a person (or fire them), so they promote them to be someone else's problem. And the cycle continues.

That's how you get shitty mangers/senior managers in places.

[justabwaybaby]

I still think that's how my GM got her GM job at my theater. A year after I left, I (an assistant manager who wasn't supposed to be handling, like, new hire social security cards and whatnot) was STILL getting texts from her asking how to do the new hire stuff because she just didn't show up the day of the training.

[floatinglately]

are the succession trio really examples of “failing upwards,” or are they just both huge failures and very rich… failing upwards as a phrase is supposed to communicate some kind of advancement but all three of them end of the series in worse professional shape than they entered it and none of them ever meaningfully go “up” except for a few episodes in season 4 because of Other Factors

[almostlawyer]

Kendall flopped spectacularly tho