Seek to Misconstrue + a
Failure: The Blog 
February 2012
January 2012
- Offensive Advertising, Increased Sales?
- I Sold Out For Millions, Then Worked At McDonald's
- Steve Jobs on Failure
- The Famous Western Failure
- Thank Goodness for Drug Addicts
December 2011
- It's a Wonderful Failure
- Stadium Destroyed, Reborn
- Failure to Trust the Astronauts
- Failure and the Baggy Pants Tradition
- Failure at The Happiest Place on Earth
- Saving What Was Lost
- FailureBank: A Social Learning Utility
November 2011
- A Thanksgiving Failure
- Harriet Tubman's Clever Lie
- The Failures of Lemieux
- Failed to Return a Text
- Admitting Failure
- A Leaders Job: Support Failure
October 2011
- [VIDEO] Mistakes with Tasty Dum Dums
- Failure and the Chocolate Chip Cookie
- Failure Goes Digital
- Using AIDS to Fight Cancer
- Victory Despite Obstacles
September 2011
The Really Bad Spill
No, it’s not more conversation about the situation in the Gulf of Mexico. Instead, this is about a chemical spill in 1944–that was confined to some tennis shoes.
The story goes that in 1944, the 3M Corporation purchased the rights to a process for generating flourochemicals. Yet try as they might, researchers couldn’t figure out any practical use for the chemicals. That is, until a clumsy lab assistant spilled a vial on her own sneakers.
These are the moments that everyone dreads at work. That assistant must have thought: I look like an incompetent fool. The situation went from bad to worse, however, when the employee realized that no amount of scrubbing or soap would take off the chemical.
Later, however, 3M chemists Sam Smith and Patsy Sherman realized that the chemical actually resisted dirt and oil. It might make for a great chemical protectant for fabrics.
That’s how Scotchgard was born. Nobody knows, however, if the misspelling of “guard” was another accident. In any case, however, failure is the secret to success.
