Failure is not an Option...

Failure is Not an Option: Apollo 13 Creativity
by Margaret J. King, Ph.D.

Dr. King is director of Cultural Studies & Analysis (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, phone 215-592-8544), identifying cultural values in products and marketing for business and institutions.

Is your work at the crisis state? If so, you may have approached the state where your creativity is also really at its maximum. You'll see what I mean when I dissect, from the recent book and movie, the Apollo 13 mission to the moon.

"Houston, we've got a problem." These famous words, spoken by astronaut Jim Lovell from space in April 1970, launched a famous public demonstration of solution-finding.

The spacecraft was made of three components: the main command module, the service module, and the lunar landing module. Fifty-five hours into the mission, a cryogenic tank exploded in the service module, thus causing loss of oxygen and power to the command module. From that moment, the mission was not about success. It was about something far more important: solving an unforeseen problem under sudden and unexpected limitations.

"Failure is not an option," Gene Kranz, lead flight director for Mission Control, announced to the ground crew in Houston as Apollo 13 approached the critical earth-to-moon decision loop. Did he mean that failure had been an option at one time, but wasn't now? Perhaps that was why things weren't working the way they should have.

Read the rest of the article here.

Now... in this day of cut throat win at all cost; I have to temper my comments to say ... within ethical constraints Failure is not an option, and dang it... it's good to strive to win and to achieve. Yes we do lose at times, but losing is not failing in a game of sports if you lose with dignity and learn to appreciate how your opponent beat you. Apollo 13 is inspirational because nobody gave up, and with the positive attitude like that, they succeeded. Plus I told you that story because of this:



and it's available here at Ebay... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280383785422#ht_500wt_1153

You probably never thought I would go Garrison Keilor on you... or even infomercial... HA.