As a fighter pilot I know from my own experiences how decisive surprise and luck can be for success, which in the long run comes only to the one who combines daring with cool thinking.
Interpretation
Success often relies on a combination of unexpected opportunities and careful decision-making.
In this quote, Adolf Galland reflects on his experiences as a fighter pilot, emphasizing that while surprise and luck can play significant roles in achieving success, it is ultimately the individual who balances boldness with rational thinking who will succeed in the long term. This highlights the importance of both taking risks and maintaining composure in the face of challenges.
In practice
Using this quote in a motivational speech to inspire young pilots.
There are many designers who have much greater talent as a designer than I do, but they may not have my drive, they may not work as hard, they may not have the focus, the desire... You have to have a talent because, at the end of the day, if the pants you design don't make someone's butt look great, they're not going to buy them.
Work mixed with management becomes not only easier but more profitable. The time is past when anyone can boast about 'hard work' without having a corresponding result to show for it.
The key to ending extreme poverty is to enable the poorest of the poor to get their foot on the ladder of development. The ladder of development hovers overhead, and the poorest of the poor are stuck beneath it. They lack the minimum amount of capital necessary to get a foothold, and therefore need a boost up to the first rung.
Fame itself... doesn't really afford you anything more than a good seat in a restaurant.
If you want to occupy the C-suite or the top one-tenth of 1% in any organization, you have to be obsessively devoted to your career at the expense of everything else. And women look at that, and they think, 'No.'
The middle of every successful project looks like a disaster.
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