Belief and Values Beacons to Success Even After Failure

From http://www.jimcollins.com/books/how-the-mighty-fall.html

We all need beacons of light as we struggle with the inevitable setbacks of life and work. For me, that light has often come from studying Winston Churchill. In the early 1930s, Churchill’s career had descended into what biographer Virginia Cowles called “a quagmire from which there seemed to be no rescue.”

At the end of Volume I of his series, The Last Lion, William Manchester captures Churchill’s position in 1932. Lady Astor visited with Joseph Stalin, who quizzed her on the political landscape in Britain. Astor prattled on about the powerful, the up-and-coming, naming Neville Chamberlain as the star.

“What about Churchill?” asked Stalin.

“Churchill?” Astor’s eyes widened. Then with a disdainful wrinkle of her nose, “Oh, he’s finished.”

Not only would Churchill redeem himself by giving voice to Britain’s resolve to stand against the Axis powers during World War II, he also went on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, return again as Prime Minister at age 77, be knighted by the Queen, and sear into the Cold War lexicon the term “Iron Curtain” in his prescient warning about Soviet aggression. Churchill’s simple mantra: Never give in—never, never, never, never.

Never give in. Be willing to kill failed business ideas, even to shutter big operations you’ve been in for a long time, but never give up on the idea of building a great company. Be willing to evolve into an entirely different portfolio of activities, even to the point of zero overlap with what you do today, but never give up on the principles that define your culture. Be willing to embrace loss, to endure pain, to temporarily lose freedoms, but never give up faith in your ability to prevail. Be willing to form alliances with former adversaries, to accept necessary compromise, but never—ever—give up on your core values.