One day, as I was meeting with a Six Sigma black belt from one of GE’s industrial businesses—who was quite skeptical— I found myself distracted by the mug on his desk, which read: FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION. Nobody in the startup world could have such a mug, I mused; it would be ridiculous. My experience is full of situations where reality proved too unpredictable to avoid failure. I thought of the best, most successful entrepreneurs I know. What would their mug say? I settled on: I EAT FAILURE FOR BREAKFAST.
