Our elderly statesman, former President Carter, once told Charlie Rose he still regrets not sending enough choppers out on Eagle Claw, the Iranian hostage rescue. In the same vein, I couldn’t forget Operation Frequent Wind whose choppers couldn’t be rid of quickly enough.
Those who don’t act also have regrets. But perhaps less than those who do. Thankfully, we are living in a digital age i.e. more tolerance for risks and failing due to larger data set. Keep taking those selfies, until it’s right. Keep tweaking those EV batteries, redesigning those chips and testing the Beta software. Seth Godin once said that without all his previous unsold books, he would not have a hit. Revision and regret: revision makes better version while regret erodes confidence which leads to resign to fate.
BCG has a chart which shows people, leaders included, last longer than the companies they helped create. Top 10 companies now fluctuate just as quickly as the USA TODAY Top 10 books. Recently notable dot.com survivors grew into conglomerates e.g. Alphabet and Amazon, Alibaba and Apple, pathway that GM and GE once took.
Will these giants live down their own ITT-size regrets? We are talking about huge projects like human life extension, on-demand autonomous ride sharing, and space X. Google promises to design its phones and A.I. with users in mind – more bars and faster fiber to the curb. Apple maintains its lead in customer satisfaction, given stiff tariff at this edit.
From Frequent Wind success to Operation Eagle Claw failure, we learn that helicopters and instruments might tactically be well planned, but they are at the mercy of field variables such as sand and wind (in the desert).
I’d rather live in regrets for having acted than not at all, to live at the margin than underlive proper. A few more helicopters could have altered many lives, lessening the amount of regrets Carter’s included.
Thang Nguyen 555 