Soichiro Honda — "Success Is the 1% Supported by 99% Failure"

The son of a Hamamatsu blacksmith apprenticed at an auto repair shop at fifteen, went independent, and challenged piston-ring manufacturing — and failed spectacularly. Hitting the wall of his own technical limits, Soichiro Honda, past thirty and already a company president, enrolled as an auditing student to relearn metallurgy.

His true greatness, I believe, was this capacity to bear the embarrassment of relearning: his goal was never his dignity but a better product. After the war he rose again from motorized bicycles, conquered the world in motorcycles, entered automobiles, and declared — then won — the world's top races.

His summary: "Success is the 1% supported by the 99% that is failure." Only one who fell ninety-nine times may say it. Have you failed well lately?

What do you work for?