I remember listening to a set of tapes back maybe 10 or 15 years ago. The tapes recounted a true story of a sales executive who blew a $6 million deal. He went home and crafted a resignation letter, knowing the result of losing so much money for the company he had been working at for only a relatively short time.
The next morning he walked into the president's office and laid the letter on his desk.
The president of the company unfolded the letter, read over it, then looked up at the recent college grad and asked, "Are you really going to leave the company after we invested $6 million in your training?"
Long story short: He stayed. He learned lots from his huge and extremely expensive mistake and went on to make both the company and himself a huge amount of money.
My motto has long been, "Live and learn!" That's what life is all about. We often learn more from our mistakes than our successes, besides.
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