‘Persons who are successful often tend to go through periods of lows or outright failures’ – Calvin Cassar

Human resources (HR) specialist Calvin Cassar on Wednesday pointed out that success tends to emerge after one works on improving themselves following failures and periods of struggles.

The EPG Financial Services Ltd HR Director noticed this after reading some biographies and watching biopics over recent weeks, noting that “persons who are successful often tend to go through periods of lows or outright failures”.

To explain this, he drew upon the example of Former UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who during World War One was “highly criticised” for the failed Dardanelles Straits attack in Northwest Turkey. “Up to the age of 66, he was on to a miserable stint in his career, including periods in which he was voted out of parliament and in which he had a fading influence,” Mr Cassar said.

However, Sir Churchill eventually rose out of the shadows to “lead Europe in its darkest hour” during World War Two.

To further emphasise the role that determination has in all aspects of life, Mr Cassar proceeds to speak of the struggles of American basketball player Bill Russell, who was “cut from his high school basketball team” because he was described as having “poor fundamentals and of doing defence the wrong way”.

“He barely scratched his way through to University basketball, and eventually went on to win 11 National Basketball Association (NBA) Championships,” Mr Cassar explained.

While he remarked that “not all persons who fail end up being superstars”, he concluded by saying that it is “worth keeping in mind that most of those who ‘succeed’ actually manage to do so following failures and through perseverance and hard work”.

Aside from his role at EPG Financial Services Ltd, Mr Cassar is also HR Manager at Merkur eSolutions Malta. He has extensive experience within the HR field, having previously served in various related positions at The General Soft Drinks Co Ltd, Malta Financial Services Authority, Mizzi Motors, FTIAS Ltd, and Konnekt.

He holds a Master of Science in Occupational Psychology from University of Leicester, as well as a Bachelor of Psychology in Psychology and Linguistics from University of Malta. He is particularly skilled in recruitment, interviewing, and talent management, among other things.