Charles Westrill was a young, green, uninformed magazine writer when he invited T. J. Watson to a brown bag lunch—not knowing Watson was the president of IBM. Surprisingly, Watson accepted, but suggested dining at IBM headquarters.
Once Charles got over the shock of his lunch date’s prominence, Watson gave him some life-changing advice. “Would you like the formula for success?” Watson asked. “Double your rate of failure.” The common mistake, Watson said, is to make failure the enemy of success. Failure may be harsh, but it is the best teacher.
This is Howard Butt Jr. of Laity Lodge. After lunch, Charles studied all his rejected manuscripts to turn each failure into a step toward success. Now there’s a formula for the high calling of our daily work.
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”— Psalm 73:26
