Comments on: If At First You Don't Succeed ...

What Are The Hallmarks Of Failure, And Why Should We Ignore Them?

[flaregun]

I can see how you''d want to use the Edsel as a hook or even centerpiece for this story as it''s probably the ultimate symbol of "failure" in Corporate American History, but it really doesn''t fit at all in the story you wound up doing.

The Edsel is no Harry Truman, and it''s certianly not Apple Newton with innovations that were simply ahead of their time. Time has shown the Edsel to be every bit as much the bloated piece of *** it was perceived to be back then, and features such as its "push button transmission" to be every bit as much the pointless gimicks they were always dismissed as. The high price that Edsels garner today is the result of rarity due to the fact that few cars were sold and they were so poorly constructed that of those few have survived to today, combined with the sheer notoriority of the name giving it a sort of novelty value. It''s almost like saying that because of its rarity and high price today, the inverted Jenny air mail stamp was in the end a "success".

[larmar44]

Does anybody know the name of the song by Tom Jones that was in this story? I hope they publish the video.

[piercetheval]

if at first you don''t succeed...keep on sucking and you will suck seed...Just look at "W".

[lil_willie61]

Sorry... I swear I only hit the publish button once.

[lil_willie61]

Is it no wonder nobody wants to take risks anymore?!
---- Posted by hypnotoad72 at 10:04 AM : Aug 03, 2008

Speak for yourself, toad. There are people starting and/or expanding businesses every day. New products, many from lone entrepreneurs, hit the market every day. If it weren''t for risk-takers our economy wouldn''t even exist.

[lil_willie61]

Is it no wonder nobody wants to take risks anymore?!
---- Posted by hypnotoad72 at 10:04 AM : Aug 03, 2008

Speak for yourself, toad. There are people starting and/or expanding businesses every day. New products, many from lone entrepreneurs, hit the market every day. If it weren''t for risk-takers our economy wouldn''t even exist.

[bettyechols]

I copied this story and will keep it for future ref: especially about Truman. I am passing it on to all my friends.

[hypnotoad72]

Nice quote from Just Kidding R. there. She speaketh the obvious. Probably misquoted Shakespeare for all we know too. (I shouldn''t be so cynical. If it weren''t for her, every 1st grader these days wouldn''t even want to learn how to read a single syllable... but then, we didn''t have Harry''s Potter in my day or the generations before me, so what''s changed in today''s world?)

Worse, fail too much and you rot on the street. Not very friendly to human rights, now is it? Is it no wonder nobody wants to take risks anymore?!

I''ll also admit, and it''s my turn to nick another author''s quotes, failure is one of the basic freedoms.

[eachandler-2009]

I understood all of the examples of failures preceding success, except for the CalTech Basketball reference. Where is the success aspect? I just looked up their record for the past season (1-24) and it doesn''t represent the success aspect. There are MANY other athletic references that could be used. Any CalTech fans out there that can explain?

[sbursten]

Good story on failure. How do I get a video?