The Up Side of Down

How many of us have taken great leaps out of fear? How often has a failure, or being fired, or jilted resulted in being forced to take actions that turned out to be positively life changing? Often in our personal journey, when we get lost in the wilderness, that is what finally brings us home.

As Bill Gates, unquestionably one of our most successful entrepreneurs has said, “it’s fine to celebrate success, but more important are the lessons of failure.”

In the startup world, entrepreneurs are taught to fail quickly, learn and move on. We all get advice, but it’s life experience and usually failure that teaches us the bigger lessons.

Journalist Megan McArdle explains in The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success.

My conversation with Megan McArdle:

The Plateau Effect

Often it seems as if there is a hopelessness with respect to our personal progress: That it is our ultimate destiny not to go forever forward, but at some points to be pushed back or stuck in our past.

It would seem that this is almost a part of our DNA as a species,  or at least as Americans. But does it have to be so? Investigative journalist Bob Sullivan thinks not. He believes we can overcome what he calls The Plateau Effect.

My conversation with Bob Sullivan:

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