Herman School of Business
When Failure Is Funny
Geez, we all take ourselves so serious all the time. Listen I understand the sad feelings that come with being let down. The heartbreak, from a breakup. The gut wrenching feeling that you lose your confidence for a bit thinking it will never be good again.
Let’s save that talk for a sunny bright summer day. It’s been raining here in Baltimore for the last five days and since I am being “sun-deprived” I thought I would reach back through a few real events to make myself laugh. See, another trait about successful people is that they even try to manipulate their minds to positive thought, even when others give in to the mood of grayness all around them. So, laugh with me a bit.
How about the time I rebuilt a 36 foot cabin cruiser. It was over 25 years old when I bought it with baseball size holes in the hull just above the water line. The wood was rotting away from age. But I knew I could save this boat. Three cabins, a shower you could stand up in, and a flying bridge to sit high above the water and hit those twin 454 engines so you could skim across the Chesapeake Bay. After six months of hard labor, wrapping new wood over the complete hull, and then applying the “West System” of fiberglass to every inch of the hull of my new ship it came launch day and the thrill of victory of man over the ravages of nature and time. The boat looked incredible, and I named it THE ADMIRAL after my Dad as that was his nickname. Within a week of the launch the boat sank in the slip. This is where you can laugh. Eventually we pumped the water out, found the place I had failed to properly fiberglass and fixed it…but we did have that rather funny failure moment first.
Or maybe the time we were taking over a company through foreclosure and as I entered the main offices to introduce myself to the staff who were in shock that their company was no longer being run by the owner they knew. I took another guy with me to go back into the manufacturing area (workers there were gone for the day) and he was to inventory the machinery and equipment for me. I popped my head back into the office and told the staff I had to catch an airplane. Still stunned, they simply nodded. Now, when something is in foreclosure they might also owe taxes. Fifteen minutes after I left, the IRS showed up and said, “Everyone out, we are padlocking this place and seizing the assets.” The now reeling staff just grabbed their coats and walked out. The IRS man put chains on all the exit doors as he left so no one could enter. The IRS trumped our foreclosure and we failed to get that company. So, what’s so funny about that? Two hours later I got a call on my cell phone from the guy I left back in the factory…they forgot he was there and was locked in! Now, that’s funny.
Water survival school can be tricky. To keep the barracuda from biting your feet they made us wear tennis shoes with black socks over them, when we did training. They put a parachute on your back and towed you up hundreds of feet, just like para-sailing, but with a twist. You went up much higher and you had a seat pack with survival gear under your ass. At the highest point up you signaled the boat and unhooked the tow rope. You were simulating being ejected from a plane. Then you pulled the seat pack cord, your gear dropped out and when you hit the water you pulled the rope holding your life raft, fishing gear, and tools to keep you alive until someone would rescue you. The tow boat was long gone. They would come back hours later to see how you were doing. When I pulled the ripcord on my seat pack I knew there was trouble. My stuff wasn’t hanging under me as I descended to the murky barracuda water, some fool who packed it didn’t tie it on the rope holding it together. My stuff was flying away from me not connected in any way. I bobbed around like a damn cork until the boat came back. They were watching through binoculars and thought it was hysterical that I would be in that situation. I didn’t laugh until I was back on the tow boat and thought it must have looked pretty funny.
- Posted: 14 December 2007
- Comments: 0
- Category: Running a business
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