I did everything by the numbers. I had checklists upon checklists. If I wasn't ahead of everybody on my team, I didn't feel I was doing my job.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of organization and diligence in achieving success.
Gene Kranz's quote reflects his strong belief in the necessity of being methodical and detail-oriented in high-stakes environments like space missions. He suggests that success requires thorough preparation and proactive leadership, implying that being ahead in planning and execution not only demonstrates dedication but is essential to fulfilling one's responsibilities.
In practice
During a team meeting, I shared this quote to motivate everyone to stick to our project checklists.
There's an awful lot of future out there, and what you got to do, is you go to out and grab it, wrestle it to the ground, accept the challenges, and then decide. You've got the skills. You've got the knowledge. You've got the love, and you're capable of moving forward and making a great life yourself.
No way can you ever, ever, ever evidence confusion, concern, lack of understanding. You have to be in charge. You are the guy. You have to be cooler than cool, smarter than smart.
You can not operate in this room unless you believe that you are Superman, and whatever happens, you're capable of solving the problem.
I was the most emotional of the flight directors. Space really got me all honked up.
I just felt that space was the next thing coming in aviation. It was higher, faster. It had the risk.
We've never lost an American in space, we're sure as hell not gonna lose one on my watch! Failure is not an option.
I struggled for a while, but when I was cast in an Off Broadway show called 'Once Upon a Mattress,' that kind of put me on the map.
The best augury of a man's success in his profession is that he thinks it the finest in the world.
When you want success as badly as you want the air, then you will get it. There is no other secret of success.
I have known lots of millionaires who were not happy men; they had not got all they wanted and therefore had failed to find success in life. A Singalese proverb says: "He who is happy is rich, but it does not follow that he who is rich is happy." The really rich man is the man who has fewest wants.
I was doing a campaign once for a manufacturer, and I couldn't think of an ideas, and I was kind of desperate about it. The night before I had to show something to my client I had a dream, an interesting dream. I woke up and for once in my life I wrote it down and went back to sleep Next morning I went to the office and had that dream out into a TV commercial which is still running thirty years after and which has made that particular product the leader in its field.
Going to the Portland Trail Blazers, who actually took the time to invest in me, was perhaps the best thing that ever happened to me in my career. I got to a small market where I could focus on basketball, basketball, basketball. No distractions.
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