Failure Breeds Success

Business Gurus 1. Henry Ford Ford is known for his innovative success but he failed five times before he founded the FORD Company. 2. R. H. Macy Before the success of MACY, he failed in seven businesses and finally succeeded with his new store. 3. Soichiro Honda The billion-dollar business, that is Honda, started initially with a series of failures. He started making scooters of his own at home and spurred on by his neighbors, finally started his own business. 4. Bill Gates Gates didn't seem like a shoe-in for success after dropping out of Harvard and starting a failed first business with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen called Traf-O-Data. 5. Harland David Sanders Sanders founded KFC and his famous secret chicken recipe was rejected 1,009 times before a restaurant accepted it. 6. Walt Disney Walt Disney had a bit of a rough start and he was fired by a newspaper editor because, 'he lacked imagination and had no good ideas'. He kept plugging along, however, and eventually found a recipe for success that worked. Scientists 7. Albert Einstein Einstein did not speak until he was four and did not read until he was seven, and his teachers and parents thought he was mentally handicapped, slow and anti-social. But he caught on pretty well in the end, winning the Nobel Prize and changing the face of modern physics. 8. Charles Darwin In his early years, Darwin gave up on having a medical career and considered as a lazy boy. Now, Darwin is well-known for his scientific studies. 9. Isaac Newton Newton was failed so many times in his school days and was sent off to Cambridge where he finally blossomed into the scholar we know today. 10. Thomas Edison Edison was fired for being unproductive In his early years. Even as an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. 11. Orville and Wilbur Wright After numerous attempts at creating flying machines, several years of hard work, and tons of failed prototypes, the brothers finally created a plane. Public Figures 12. Winston Churchill This Nobel Prize-winning, twice-elected Prime Minster of the United Kingdom struggled in school and failed the sixth grade. After many years of political failures, finally became the Prime Minister at the ripe old age of 62. 13. Abraham Lincoln After Lincoln was failed many times in business and defeated in numerous runs, he became a greatest leader. 14. Oprah Winfrey Oprah faced a rough and abusive childhood as well as numerous career setbacks in her life to become one of the most iconic faces on TV. Writers and Artists 15. Steven Spielberg Spielberg's name was rejected from the University of Southern California School of Theater, Film and Television three times. Thirty-five years after starting his degree, Spielberg returned to school in 2002 to finally complete his work and earn his BA. 16. J. K. Rowling Rowling may be rolling in a lot of Harry Potter dough today, but before she published the series of novels she was nearly penniless, severely depressed, divorced, trying to raise a child on her own while attending school and writing a novel. Athletes 17. Michael Jordan Most people wouldn't believe that a man often lauded as the best basketball player of all time was actually cut from his high school basketball team. 'I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.'