Failure and Gen Z: Celebrating Unexpected Turns

Written by Silvia Pagliuca

“It’s not the note you play that’s wrong; it’s the note you play next that makes it right or wrong.” That’s the essence of failure, explained by Miles Davis better than anyone else. But what happens if you stumble just as you’re starting to run on your own: choosing a college, landing your first job, building a career.

““We need resilience to learn not to be afraid of failure, especially when we’reyoung,”says Massimiliano Pedone, a law graduate who is now a TikToker with hundreds of thousands of followers.

The Black Hole of Legal Practice

During his legal internship, Pedone discovered that the job he had always thought was right for him actually didn’t appeal to him at all.“I felt miserable, trapped in that law firm. I looked at my life from the outside, and it caused me anguish. At first, I was afraid to face my doubts, to listen to those voices. Everyone around me seemed so sure of what they were doing, and I thought I was the one who was wrong.”

But his doubts are growing stronger, as are his feelings of anxiety and frustration. So Massimiliano talks to his parents about it:“If I’d cut off my arm, things would have been better,” he admits. “They insisted that I keep playing, and they convinced me.” I kept going for another five months: the worst of my life.”

During that time, he began keeping a diary in which he wrote, verbatim:“I feel really sick; this afternoon I warmed up my seat and I feel like throwing up, this is my life, and it’s my fault that it’s like this. I’m no longer sure I made the right choice, but I know that life is the sum of the choices we make.” And again, he continues, addressing himself:“I’m sorry if I’m so weak right now, but I assure you I’ll get back on my feet, don’t be angry if I can’t see the solution; I apologize for everything I’ve done wrong.”

The turning point

Finally, he decides enough is enough. He embraces change because doing nothing is a worse option than making the wrong decision. He goes back to school, starts a master’s degree in management in Milan, and lands a job at a multinational software company, eventually discovering social media as well. TikTok, to be exact, which becomes a platform for Massimiliano Pedone to express himself while entertaining others.

Case law has nothing to do with it, but his life is finally turning out the way he imagined it—or at least it’s getting very close.“It took some time and a lot of mistakes, but I’ve come to realize that it’s normal not to know who we are or what we want.”

Her story is so common yet so powerful that it becomes the focus of one of the Fuckup Nights, the global event series that arrived in Italy in 2015, which shines a spotlight not on success stories, but on the mistakes worth sharing and those turning points when you realize that there is no single path to true growth.

In addition to Massimiliano Pedone, two other Gen Z members—Eleonora Ambrogi and Francesco Avarello—also shared their experiences at the 29th edition, which was organized in collaboration with Alpha Test.

Eleonora Ambrogi is a young surgeon whose journey began with an uphill battle after failing the medical school entrance exam on her first attempt; today, she continues to pursue her goals, with new perspectives and paths different from those she initially set out on.

Francesco Avarello, a very young family physician, on the other hand, always nurtured a passion for family medicine during his university years, even though friends, acquaintances, and family members urged him to pursue more “prestigious” medical careers. Today, he is happy that he followed his own path and that he gets to see his patients every day at his clinic in Pioltello.

Growing Up by Accepting Failure

“Many of the students we come into contact with feel pressured to achieve high performance. The idea that excellence and success should be everyone’s goal is widespread. That’s why,” explains Roberta Romano, brand manager at Alpha Test, “we launched the ‘Diventa Grande’ campaign, through which we talk about a sense of normalcy built on choices and commitment, but also on failures, attempts, and changes of course, which are normal when transitioning from high school to college. To the young men and women preparing with us for the admission test, we say: commitment is essential, of course, but stumbling is always possible and shouldn’t be seen as a tragedy, just as the stories from Fuckup nights demonstrate.”

And as Massimiliano Pedone recalls: “I used to believe , ” he concludes, “that success was positive and failure negative, but then I realized they were one and the same. In fact, failure is a very sincere friend.”

The secret to getting along? “Always ask yourself why you made a mistake and keep working to improve.”

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