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).