Thomas J. Watson, the first president of IBM, is remembered as one of the outstanding and innovative business leaders of the 20th century. Under his leadership and the leadership of his son who followed him as CEO, the company became one of the giants of technology.
What advice do you suppose Watson gave for those who wanted to know his secret of success? Simply this, “The way to succeed is to double your failure rate.” Much of IBM’s growth during Watson’s tenure came through leadership in research. And research, by its very nature, produces many more failures than successes. But those failures are a necessary part of the success process.
Perhaps you’ve been tempted to give up on overcoming a character weakness or a bad habit because of repeated failure. Remember, God’s will for you is not failure. It is to be an overcomer.
God has a special purpose for your life. Keep trying. Keep failing. And you will eventually succeed as long as you keep redeeming the time.
Rick Grubbs is best known as the host of “Redeeming the Time,” a one-minute radio program featured on hundreds of radio outlets around the world. He has spoken thousands of times on Biblical time management in all 50 states and 26 other countries. He is the author of the book “Morning Momentum: God’s plan for launching an unstoppable day”. He and his wife Carrie live in Salisbury NC with several of their 12 children.
