How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure?
Recorded Larry Ellison said elsewhere, not written here
Oh, absolutely. I think most overachievers are driven, not so much by the pursuit of success, but by the fear of failure. Unless failure gets very close and very nearby that fear doesn’t reach profound levels, but it drives us. It drives me to work very hard.

Academy of Achievement, Academy of Achievement interview, San Francisco, California, 1 May 1997 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 63 →
George Lucas Filmmaker; creator of Star Wars and founder of Lucasfilm
Whenever you’re making a movie, especially when you’re writing, you always have self-doubts. I did the first location shooting in Tunisia.
Recorded Academy of Achievement, Academy of Achievement interview, Skywalker Ranch, California, 1 June 1999 source ↗
Whitney Wolfe Herd Founder and chief executive of Bumble
Don't be scared of the ‘what ifs,’ because the truth is, the only failure is not trying. That's the only way you can fail. Trying and having it not work out isn't failure.
Recorded CNBC Make It interview, conducted 2019, 11 February 2021 source ↗
Howard Schultz Chief executive of Starbucks, 1987–2000, 2008–2017 and 2022–2023
But in 2007, the music stopped. We had lost sight of our shared purpose and our guiding principles, in which growth and success began to cover up mistakes and a disease set into Starbucks. That disease, hubris. We lost our way and believe it or not, we almost lost the entire company.
Recorded Arizona State University commencement, Speakola, 2017 source ↗
Jocelyn Bell Burnell Radio astronomer; discoverer of pulsars
My contemporaries were more upset about the Nobel than I was not to be recognised. One of them labelled it the 'No-Bell' prize! But it was fine by me. There's no Nobel Prize in astronomy and I was really proud that it was my stars that had convinced the prize committee that there was good physics in astrophysics.
Recorded Louise Walsh, University of Cambridge 'Journeys of Discovery' interview series, 1 January 2020 source ↗

More from Larry Ellison

View profile →
Question What is the biggest obstacle you have faced professionally? Craft & work
There were lots of times, especially in the early days, that were very, very difficult. I think the most difficult experience I had was in 1990 when Oracle had its only loss quarter in history. We’d been in business for 20 years, and after 20 years we lost money one quarter. We had a very difficult time. We had virtually doubled our sales every year for ten years. Nine out of ten years, ten out of eleven years. It was really quite an amazing run. We were the fastest growing company in history
Recorded Academy of Achievement, Academy of Achievement interview, San Francisco, California, 1 May 1997 source ↗

More on failure & regret

Also answered this

Frederick W. Smith, Jensen Huang, Warren Buffett, Howard Schultz, Charlie Munger, Derek Sivers

Search the directory for somebody in particular.

Explore further

Report this answer