Sunday, October 09, 2011

NY Times Magazine: What If The Secret To Success Is Failure?

The most critical missing piece, Randolph explained as we sat in his office last fall, is character — those essential traits of mind and habit that were drilled into him at boarding school in England and that also have deep roots in American history. “Whether it’s the pioneer in the Conestoga wagon or someone coming here in the 1920s from southern Italy, there was this idea in America that if you worked hard and you showed real grit, that you could be successful,” he said. “Strangely, we’ve now forgotten that. People who have an easy time of things, who get 800s on their SAT’s, I worry that those people get feedback that everything they’re doing is great. And I think as a result, we are actually setting them up for long-term failure. When that person suddenly has to face up to a difficult moment, then I think they’re screwed, to be honest. I don’t think they’ve grown the capacities to be able to handle that.”

Read the
entire article here.

4 comments:

Eclecticity said...

One of the few beneficial things that I took away from a Tulane MBA was what I learned in my Real Estate Development class from a man who had it and then lost it all.

"A person's success is directly correlated with how they handle failure."

I thought wise at the time and still do. E.

Michael Wade said...

E,

I agree and I have some experience in that area with scars to prove it.

Michael

CincyCat said...

I have a great quote by Henry Ford on my cube wall, "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently."

Michael Wade said...

CincyCat,

Great quote!

Michael