If At First You Don't Succeed ...

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

(CBS)  If at first you don't succeed, the saying says, the thing to do is not give up, but try, try again. When people tell you you should quit, but you don't want to stop, just think about the stories of some people now on top. Mark Strassmann reports our Cover Story.

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If any good came out of last year's collapse of the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis it may be the opportunity to learn, following a wave of bridge inspections nationwide spurred by the failure.

A report out this week by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials finds more than 150,000 bridges are in need of repair.

In the wake of a failure, very typically there will be a renewed caution.

Duke University professor Henry Petroski has made a career studying design failures, which he says are far more interesting than successes.

"Successes teach us very little," Petroski said. "A successful design doesn't tell us how close to failure it might be.

In fact, building on success, Petroski argues, often leads to failure, and bridges provide a dramatic example.

"Typically, the longer you go without a failure, the more confident we become," he said. "But there's then a seemingly unavoidable temptation to then start cutting corners."

Take the example of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington - a long, slender suspension bridge that opened in July of 1940 that was 57 years after engineer John Roebling's Brooklyn Bridge - one of the earliest and most famous suspension bridges opened in New York.

The designer of the Tacoma bridge was guilty, perhaps, of engineering hubris - pushing the limits of suspension bridge design, and even reducing the number of support cables to create a sleeker look.

It was barely four months after the Tacoma bridge opened that 40 mile-an-hour winds all but turned its thin steel span to rubber. The wobbly bridge stood for about an hour until it collapsed.

"That bridge was built deliberately as a slender, aesthetically-pleasing bridge," Petroski said, "and all the lessons from the 19th century that John Roebling had laid out in the Brooklyn Bridge had been forgotten."

Of course it's not just bridges. From occupants in the White House, to the cars we drive, to the people we celebrate, failures and perceived failures are all around us.

Sometimes when things fail, they were simply ahead of their time. Did you know the fax machine was actually a failed invention in the 1840s?

The copy machine was invented in 1937, but the idea was rejected by the likes of GE and IBM. It would be 10 years before Xerox's machine would make its debut.

And the Apple Newton - the first handheld PDA - was a flop, but its innovations can be seen today in the wildly successful iPhone.

"So we gotta be careful not to just be tattooing and stamping 'loser,' 'winner' on everything," said historian and CBS News consultant Douglas Brinkley says failures can become success stories in all human endeavors. Time often changes our perceptions. Consider our presidents …

"The most popular slogan about Harry Truman as president was, 'To err is Truman.' His public opinion polls were in the 20s."

Truman was so unpopular he didn't bother to run for re-election in 1952.

"Now Truman is the name of one of our 4 or 5 great presidents," Brinkley said, "because with a bit of time we've been able to see that Truman created the CIA, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Security Council, Department of Defense, the Pentagon. He oversaw the Berlin blockade, the creation of Israel, China becoming communistic, the Korean War, the creation of NATO, overseeing nuclear policy … I can go on and on. We say, 'Wow, what an amazing man that he dealt with this plethora of post-World War II problems and got most of them right.'"

Other notable "failures": the CalTech men's basketball team which hadn’t won a conference game in 23 years … John Grisham, whose first novel was rejected by a dozen publishing houses … and Henry Ford, who went bankrupt 5 times.

And on to the automotive world, where "Edsel" is synonymous with failure. (But perhaps, like beauty, failure is truly in the eye of the beholder.)

In 1958, the car was introduced with great anticipation. Ford expected to sell nearly 200,000 that first year. But the Edsel flopped.

Ford made Edsels for three model years, sold fewer than 100,000 total, and lost hundreds of millions of dollars.

But Griffin, Ga., neighbors Frank Harris and Steve Durham are Edsel lovers. Between them they own 23 of the cars.

"Back then, if you had an Edsel and wanted to get rid of it, you'd have to give it away," said Harris. "Pay someone to take it. Nobody wanted them."

Harris got this 1960 Edsel convertible from his father. Through painstaking restoration he has returned it to its original shine and luster, in the process turning an automotive failure into a small fortune.

Half a century ago an Edsel would have been sold for roughly $3000. And what is Harris' restored model worth today?

"Because of the low production it's got a value of $200,000," he said.

"Two hundred thousand dollars! That's not a failure!" said Strassman.

"No, that's not a failure!" said Harris.

More "failures": Artist Vincent van Gogh, who sold only one painting in his lifetime … Orville Wright, who was expelled from elementary school … and the Chicago Cubs, who haven't won a World Series since 1908 (and they haven't played in one since 1945).

Is Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones a failure? Surely not: his .369 batting average leads the major leagues by a significant margin, yet that means he's making outs - failing - more than 60% of the time

How does his deal with the perspective that when he goes to bat, more times than not, things aren’t going to go his way?

"Well, most of the time it's not and that's why you have to be able to accept failure," Jones said. "It's a lot of work to do here in the big league is how you accept failure. You learn from your failures. You come back, you apply what you learned, your previous at-bat to your next at-bat, and hopefully you get a base hit. Hopefully you get a home run!" .

And so it goes … Michael Jordan failed to make his varsity basketball team … Oprah Winfrey failed as a news reporter … Winston Churchill finished last in his class.

Failure puts you in pretty good company … company that includes J.K. Rowling, the world's first billion-dollar author. The creative wizard behind "Harry Potter," the most successful novel series in history, who made failure the topic of her speech to this year's Harvard grads.

"A mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless," she said. "And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life."

Perhaps, then, there is never a reason to fear failure. Instead, as Rowling might suggest, we ought to embrace it.

"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default."

[u2r2h]

The Press, by the way, is criminally complicit.

The Press, these days, is a BRANCH OF THE CORPORATE PROPAGANDA DOCTRINAL MACHINE. The corporations PAY BIG BUCKS and doo amazing amount of screening to have writers come up with *** like the article above.

Propaganda always has SOME TRUTH, but it slips in the DOCTRINE from behind through the pantyhose.

But you knew that.

BOYCOTT CBS, NBC and all private media.

STATE-OWNED MEDIA (with guaranteed indepence) is the only way to go.

[u2r2h]

The Press, by the way, is criminally complicit.

The Press, these days, is a BRANCH OF THE CORPORATE PROPAGANDA DOCTRINAL MACHINE. The corporations PAY BIG BUCKS and doo amazing amount of screening to have writers come up with *** like the article above.

Propaganda always has SOME TRUTH, but it slips in the DOCTRINE from behind through the pantyhose.

But you knew that.

BOYCOTT CBS, NBC and all private media.

STATE-OWNED MEDIA (with guaranteed indepence) is the only way to go.

[u2r2h]

If you measure success by the ability to brutally impose yourself on everyone and deceive, lie and defraud without having to pay the cost.. .. sure. ....... But someone''s gotta pay. Future generations will have lost the freedon to act, they will have to clean up... and 150,000 bridges is the smallest burden. http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/

[u2r2h]

If you measure success by the ability to brutally impose yourself on
everyone and deceive, lie and defraud without having to pay the cost..

sure.

But someone''s gotta pay. Future generations will have lost the freedon to act,
they will have to clean up... and 150,000 bridges is the smallest burden.

The trouble is that the MILLIONS OF INNOCENTs that were killed by direct
involvement of USA "soldiers" and USA "killing instruments" cannot be
brought back to life, and their lost contribution to our collective
earth heritage is OUR LOSS.

Instead we have the crazies like Perle Wolfowitz and the murderous like
henry hugh shelton, JCS, Bush, etc.. survive and even allowed to
manipulated history to reflect them being the good guys.

US american citizens MUST lie to themselves, they couldn''t bear the thought
that the USA is guilty as hell, did 911 and blamed it on arabs ....
ingnorance as self-protection...

If you sort of understand what I mean... please listen to John MCMurtry
who is able to put it into more refined words... may it ease your soul:

http://http.dvlabs.com/radio4all/ug/ug222-hour1mix.mp3 http://http.dvlabs.com/radio4all/ug/ug222-hour2mix.mp3

See my blogs:

http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/

[u-r-right]

Look back at president like Truman and Eisenhower (Created NASA, the interstate road system, etc.) And compare them to what we have had since them....not much successful leadership at all. Certainly what George W has tried to accomplish are failures (No Child Left Behind, Ethanol, Iraq invasion, rebates, etc) The only good George W has done that I can think of is extend daylight hours. We seriously lack good, strong, successful leadership in this country. And it appears our new crop of candidates ain''t any better.

[nextgenman]

What are the hallmarks of Failure? Examine George Bush, John McCain and the Republican party.

[opedanderson]

I have been saying this for years!

Im in sales. On a good day I fail to sell to 90% of my customers. On a bad day 100%........

It''s all about attitude....keep on trucking!

[scallywag8]

Look at eBay. They took off from a garage into a major Corporation and hit it big. Now they have cut so many corners that people see them as a greedy, self centered, robotic business with no personality or appreciation for their customers. All their replies are mechanical. Now everybody wants to find someone who cares. They kicked me off for just listing an item in the wrong category.

[voicemania]

to piercetheval:
take your political s##t elsewhere, moonbat!

[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".

[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?