I read in Fortune magazine
inspiring stories of the
ambitious and
well dressed
Those who have
succeeded in life
through careful planning
sheer will
raw guts
and
good shoes
The people in these stories
tell me that
I can have the same kind
of success
by employing their tactics
This may be true
But I often wonder
about those
just as talented
just as driven
who have utterly failed
in their chosen profession
Those who will
never make the cover
of Fortune magazine
or have a forum in which
to give me valuable advice
I’d be willing to bet
that those stories
though bloody
are just as inspiring
and maybe even a bit more
interesting
Would you buy a
subscription to
The Failure Review?
[The Failures originally appeared in Knife Gun Pen on 29 May 2006]
13 responses ↓
1 AJ | 29 Jan 2007
Bruce, another tight, well crafted piece! I loved the beat the ‘and’ creates before the ‘good shoes’.
Your monday mail’s are becoming habitual reading.
2 LW | 30 Jan 2007
Very nice. I’m enjoying reading your archive.
3 Robert Bruce | 30 Jan 2007
AJ - Yes, shoes might be more responsible for grabbing a CEO position than an MBA…
4 Robert Bruce | 30 Jan 2007
LW - Glad to have you around… yours are some of the first I’ve really liked in a good while of looking…
5 Mantooth | 1 Feb 2007
You raise an interesting point my friend.
I put to you this question:
Have we not, as a society, created a monster by embedding in those who have neither the talent or sense of dignity that they can indeed succeed at whatever they choose? The paradox of success is failure… A rich and noble tradition. Yet there is success in the trying.
Yours,
Mantooth
6 candice | 2 Feb 2007
Success is far more work than it is talent. And the drive to not stop when you fail.
A dance teacher a long time ago taught me to keep going through errors; another one, several years later, was teaching the same thing, “All the audience remembers is the finish. So get there, however you can.”
(And in the middle of these two I ended up on film in a red leotard demonstrating said topic. With a hangover. Ahh, Company.)
7 Jecklin | 2 Feb 2007
But you will lose.
Beside, why buy a subscription when I can get it for free on the Internet?
That said, I like your new marketing plan–asking me if I’d buy a subscription to Failure Review!
Classic!
I’m not being an asshole here and predicting failure like I chided you early on, Robert.
I’m saying that if you are taking big enough risks to be bold enough to get noticed within the clutter of people saying look at me, you will sometimes crash and burn.
Chin up.
Buck Up, Suck Up.
When I hear somebody say, “I won’t kiss anybody’s ass.” I tend to see the mouth of somebody who has experienced limited success.
Grant Morrison preaches to fake it till you make it. Amen.
Anyway, there’s no reason to wax philosophical about any of this…I look at it this way: we’re learning to play low stakes poker before we try to play a more sophisticated game.
8 Mantooth | 4 Feb 2007
I have but two words for the “You can be anything you want” generation:
American Idol.
Yours,
Mantooth
9 Robert Bruce | 6 Feb 2007
Candice - How long did you dance?
10 Robert Bruce | 6 Feb 2007
Jeck - You dog, I like that low stakes poker line… it reads well.
11 Robert Bruce | 6 Feb 2007
Manooth - Classic. I’m making the bumper sticker now… Jecklin has unleashed a capitalistic itch in me…
12 candice | 7 Feb 2007
Still go to the occasional ballet class, a couple times a month. I try for weekly but work gets in the way sometimes. How long have I danced? Since age two or so.
I did a few seasons of company on my first run through college. It was fun, but lots of work, and all-company class was Saturday at 10am. (Hence the hangover.)
13 Jessica Doyle | 9 Feb 2007
…scratch it good dude.
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