I interviewed Albert Wenger of Union Square Ventures for the Real Leaders project last Friday (The interview will be up in 2 and a half weeks). The wonderful thing about doing these interviews is that there are so many inspirational little nuggets from the stories of the folk we interview.
Albert had a great insight about good and bad days. He said “You don’t really know if a good day is a good day.” He went on to contrast two events – an event in his first start-up that was perceived as a big success and a deal that fell through after two years of negotiations. The first was met with great celebration while the second felt devastating.
In hindsight, however, the big success turned out to not be a success after all, while the failed negotiation turned out to be the best thing that could have happened. As the deal fell through, he explored new paths and went on to build a successful career as a venture capitalist. His learning was not too get too excited about the successes or too depressed about the failures. You never know what the future has in store.
What a wonderful insight! Loved it.
“If you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat both imposters just the same.” | ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling
A Learning a Day 