A Path Filled With Failures
By: Allie Weina
Engineers to Innovators: Henry Ford vs. Soichiro Honda
As you may know Ford and Honda are both very popular among drivers but, what you may not know is that it took Henry Ford and Soichiro Honda many failures to eventually obtain this status. Ford had a total of three automobile business failures. The first was the Detroit Automobile Company which hit bottom in 1901 because of customer complaints saying that their were high prices and low quality. The next came one year later, the Henry Ford Company was deserted due to a fight with his business partner. The last business quickly failed as a result of very low sale numbers. This differs largely from Honda because instead of starting his own business, he strove to join one. Honda interviewed for an engineer position at Toyota but, was unfortunately turned down. Toyota would have been very lucky to have him because of his intelligence. Later, he worked tireless hours completing and perfecting the piston ring to sell to Toyota but, when he presented it to them, they rejected it because of its quality. Honda must have felt like an embarrassment but, didn’t stop because of rejections and instead kept going and ultimately reached success. These two, Ford and Honda, have both failed but, have a major difference that sets them apart.
The innovators of their time, Ford and Honda, have distinctions but, also many similarities. The two brilliant men started out as engineers in the transportation sector. They later focused on automobiles and excelled once their businesses took off. Both of them faced much adversity through their work. They might not have always found success but, they both dealt with failure well and made it through the tough times.
Soichiro Honda
Lincoln's Life Day by Day
The 16th president of the United States was not always so successful. He had many failures throughout his life. Beginning in the year 1823, Abraham Lincoln was defeated for state legislature at the age of 23 due to his lack of campaigning. That is incredible that he ran for state legislature at such a young age! In 1831 Abraham lost his job because of his family's sudden move. That is unfortunate because it is challenging to find a new job in an unfamiliar town. The next failure came in the year 1833 when his business failed and he went into debt because of the death of his business partner. The debt was eventually paid off but, was very stressful for Abraham, as anyone could imagine. Following in 1838 he was defeated for the position of Illinois House Speaker as a result of the Whigs not obtaining enough votes. Eventually, Lincoln made it into presidency which was filled with ups and downs. Abraham Lincoln once stated, “I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.” Which shows that he is very combative and everything might not always go as planned but, he will persevere through it. As you can see it takes many failures to one day succeed.
One Answer to a Lifetime of Problems
Michael Jordan has had many difficulties in his life. In his younger life, he excelled in speed and skill but, he was not as tall as his fellow players. He was like an ant surrounded by giants which caused a big problem. This led him to be rejected from his basketball team because their was a specific height minimum which he did not meet. This had a big affect on this young star. In the article “Michael Jordan Failed Because He Succeeded” it states, “Later he admitted that when he got home that day, so disappointed and ashamed, he wept.” Later in his life, specifically in his NBA career, he lost a total of 300 games. Which, is crazily more than an average NBA player plays in. In the same time frame, he missed a whopping 9,000 shots. Its impressive that the most successful people can have had the worst failures. Lastly, Jordan was passed the ball 26 times to make the winning shot but, missed!! As you can see, he has had many challenges in his life.
Michael Jordan had many problems throughout his life that all shared a common solution. The answer to his problems was, not surprisingly, to frequently practice to improve his performance and get better. Jordan held a lot of conviction and used it help him succeed in his career. Although he had many problems, he also had one solution.
Oprah Winfrey's Causes of Failures
In Oprah Winfrey's lifetime there were many effects of her personality and emotions. After college Winfrey quickly found an amazing job as a TV reporter. However, it did not turn out as expected and she was instantly fired. The reason why this happened was because many of her coworkers believed that she was unfit for TV or more specifically too emotionally involved in many of the stories she reported. It seemed as if the wind had come and blew away her chances of ever reaching her dreams and this is seen to be, by many, as the biggest failure of her life. Winfrey's nature and feelings have caused her to be rejected before.
The appearance of Oprah Winfrey has impacted her life in a big way. When she first came to Baltimore many people wondered what Oprah Winfrey would look like and who she would be. As soon as she was introduced to the public she was widely rejected. This was influenced by her appearance or particularly her age, race, and the fact that she is a woman. These aspects about her were negative because in that time a news reporter was typically an older, white, male. Most people judged her based on looks and not talents such as, her very eloquent speaking. Winfrey's physical features and identity have changed the outcome of many situations.
Success Comes With A Price
Steve Jobs is an extremely smart man that is wildly successful. However, to be successful you need to experience failure. Jobs has not always made the best decisions but, he was been able to work his way through them.
Jobs was a big part of the company Pixar and his choices had an impact on this company. For instance, he believed Pixar wouldn't excel on just animated films but, should instead become a hardware company. This idea did not go over well with the others, as most would imagine, so, they continued to major in animated films. Later on he made many more mistakes such as, attempting to sell Pixar many times to break even on his share. He flunked these attempts because of the lack of bites to his bait. Eventually, Disney came and bought Pixar, once this went through Job’s triumphed. Steve Job's decisions had a big affect on the company because he was of importance there.
However, his mistakes did not stop there and were continued in the company Apple. Most importantly, one big failure was hiring John Sculley as the CEO of Apple Inc. After gaining power, he actively tried to fire Jobs with the help of many others. This was very hard and stressful for him but, he eventually got everything back on track. Also, throughout Job’s life he launched the Apple Lisa, the Macintosh TV, the Apple III, and the Powermac g4 cube which, were smart ideas that ended up screwing up. Steve Jobs messed up many times in Apple Inc.
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