Is a Failure a Fail?

Progress. What a great word to say and what a great phrase to declare, “We have made progress!” Particularly, in the middle of a project that may have hit a -- pause.

The road to progress is littered with failures that are defined as setbacks, disappointments, moments of futility, and sometimes serious crashes. We are able to relate to this in particular as we experience the expansion of I-10. Lots of messes, delays, setbacks, and unfortunately crashes. In all of these fails though, there is progress and when the freeway expansion is complete the appreciation will be real.

A famous quote of Henry Ford who was “one of the most renowned entrepreneurs in history,” is “’[f]ailure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently’” (Intellectual). And that is really the key; allowing the fail to become the progress. “For Henry Ford, failure did not hinder innovation, but served as the impetus to hone his vision for a technology that would ultimately transform the world” (Intellectual).

A comment I hear is “if it’s not broke don’t fix it.” How do we know that in the “not broke” way of how we are doing something is the best way forward if we do not look at or try other ways of doing it? Back to Henry, before his Model T came out driving was on the right side of the vehicle, but he put it on the left in the Model T. Why? It worked just fine the unbroke way, on the right side. Henry discovered that moving the steering wheel to the left side allowed “passengers easy access to and from the cars” (Ford). He set a new design by looking at something unbroke measuring its efficiency, necessity, and effectiveness. In doing so, he set a new trend and within a short time other automakers followed his lead (McIntosh).

Not being quite so dogged as Henry, and although I still drag a toe, it was one of the most freeing things when I finally realized that it was alright to fail. I knew that I had at least tried, but not only that, I have learned, as Henry said, to try again just doing it smarter.

Colorado County and our region are experiencing progress; we will have some fails. If you see some messes, feel disappointments, realize moments of futility, or even experience a crash, take heart--we are making progress.

References

• Ford Company. (n.d.). The Model T is Ford’s universal car that put the world on wheels.

Retrieved from https://corporate. ford.com/articles/history/ the-model-t.html

• Intellectual Ventures. (August 2, 2016). Failing for Success: Henry A. Ford.

Retrieved from https://www. i ntel lectua lventures. com/ buzz/insights/failing-for-success- henry-a.-ford

• McIntosh, Jil. (Nov 3, 2021). True or False: Did Ford really say “Any color the customer wants, as long as it’s black”. Retrieved from https://collectorsautosupply. com/ blog/ true- or- false- did- ford- reallysay- any- color- the- customerwants- as-long-as-its-black/