Seek to Misconstrue + a
Failure: The Blog 
August 2018
- When This Executive Was Fired, He Took Charge
- Obeying The Speed Limit Has Never Been More Fun
- London Black Cabs Helped Uber Grow
- Bette Graham Created A Product To Fix Her Mistakes
- Flamin' Hot Cheetos Had An Interesting Start
July 2018
- Fear This Instead Of Failure
- Re-Releasing Songs Created Success
- A CEO's Purposeful Mistake
- The Tardy Student And The Unsolvable Problem
- Fixing Potholes Through Graffiti
June 2018
- A Surprising Mistake In The Oxford English Dictionary
- US Army Embraces Mistakes
- Blocking A Hymn
- Eddie Shore Was Truly A Tough Guy
- [Video] Elon Musk Didn't "Pivot" He Failed
May 2018
- 8 Examples of Mental Toughness Part 2
- Necessity Turned Accessory: Allen Iverson's Sleeve
- This Doctor Has Continued To Fail
- 8 Examples of Mental Toughness
- MIT Accidentally Creates New Smelting Process
April 2018
- Johnny Cash Quit Singing Lessons
- Cruise Control Came Out of Frustration
- Time Spent Gaming Pays Off In The Navy
- Rock Around The Clock Was a Commercial Failure
- Sigmund Freud Should Have Been Discouraged
March 2018
Harriet Tubman’s Clever Lie
The famous escaped slave and abolitionist Harriet Tubman evaded capture many times. In many of those episodes, failure was the secret to her success.
According to one source:
She saw a former master on a train. Harriet grabbed a newspaper and pretended to read. The slave owner knew that Harriet Tubman couldn’t read, so ignored the black woman who was “reading” the newspaper. Luckily, Harriet held the newspaper right side up!
Photo © Flickr User TradingCardsNPS
The story of this brave woman is one of breaking the rules. Beginning in 1849, she failed to comply with laws but did what she—and millions of others—thought was right. She escaped from slavery twice in that year, finally ending up in Pennsylvania. But this was not enough. For the next eleven years, she intentionally returned to the south to rescue other slaves. Again and again she acted as a criminal, but successfully brought over 70 people to freedom.
Failure is the secret to success. Harriet Tubman “failed” to accept the status quo, and even supported violent action to stop slavery. But for much of her life and to countless people today, her purposeful refusal to follow the rules is a true inspiration. Sometimes to do what is right we must do what others feel is wrong.
