Derek Sivers
Founder of CD Baby; author of Anything You Want
In the end, I had to pay $3.3 million dollars to buy back that 90%.
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure?
Question
What made you decide to stop something you were known for, and how did you know it was time?
Time & hindsight
I had set my mind on winning the 1500-meter gold medal in Helsinki in 1952. ... And, it all came disastrously wrong when I came fourth instead of winning. ... Instead of retiring in order to devote myself to medicine, I decided to go on for another two years while I was still a student, working clinically in London, and I did that.
Academy of Achievement interview, 7 June 2002 source ↗
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Wendy Kopp
Founder of Teach For America; chief executive of Teach For All
I applied to one firm in every sector. This was the most half-hearted job search. “I’ll apply for that management consulting firm and this investment bank…” and I applied for five jobs altogether, because my heart wasn’t in it. And thankfully… I’m so glad I didn’t get any of those big jobs! Because that made this decision easier.
Recorded
Academy of Achievement recorded interview, American Academy of Achievement, 17 September 2013
source ↗
Leon Panetta
Attorney and politician; Director of the Office of Management and Budget, White House Chief of Staff, Director of the CIA and Secretary of Defense
You can see your political career going up in smoke, but more importantly, you also worry about your family.
Frederick W. Smith
Founder and long-serving chairman of FedEx Corporation
I was a student at Yale and wrote a paper about the computerized society that was on the horizon. ... Then I sort of let that lie. I didn’t get a particularly good grade on it, as I recall.
More from Sir Roger Bannister
View profile →No, because I was set for it. My core, my whole life was medicine. I wanted to become a specialist. So for ten years I concentrated solely on medicine. It took ten years to become a consultant in neurology.
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