Overcoming Failure in Business
Failure is a word feared by most people in the world. No sane person seeks to fail. The goal in life should be to succeed at ventures one attempts. Yet nearly everyone faces failure of some kind, some larger than others. The thought of failing at a task can be crippling to some people. Yet it can be a motivator for others. The word persistence goes hand in hand with overcoming failure. The best individuals in business analyze failure and seek to find its causes in the effort to overcome failure.
Story: Thomas Edison was one of the most prolific inventors in the world. He held over 1000 patents for inventions in his name. During his lifetime. Edison experienced successes and failures. One of his most terrible failures took place in 1914. A fire totally destroyed his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. At the time, Edison was 67 years old. He was no longer a young man. Although credited with more working inventions than any other inventor ever, stood in the face of failure.
Thomas Edison stood before the ruins of his buildings. He had only a little over $200,000 in insurance for buildings and materials values at over $2,000,000. A lesser man would have been broken by the event. But Edison was 1uoted to say, “There is great value in disaster, All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew.”
Shortly after, Edison invented the first successful incandescent light bulb. A failure that lit the night skies of New Jersey with its destruction paved the way to light up the world with electric lights.
Speaking about Failure: My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure. * Abraham Lincoln