You can not operate in this room unless you believe that you are Superman, and whatever happens, you're capable of solving the problem.
Interpretation
Confidence and self-belief are essential for overcoming challenges.
In this quote, Gene Kranz emphasizes the importance of believing in oneself, akin to possessing the extraordinary confidence of Superman, when facing challenges in high-pressure situations. It suggests that a strong mindset and unwavering self-assurance are fundamental to solving problems effectively.
In practice
In a motivational speech to inspire upcoming engineers who are worried about their projects.
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.
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.
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.
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.
No matter how much time you've wasted in the past, you still have an entire today.
I'm going to go down swinging... I'm sure as heck not going to go home and say I had a bad tournament.
If people are not laughing at your dreams at least once a week, you are aiming too low!
Commit yourself to a dream. Nobody who tries to do something great, but fails, is a total failure. Why? Because he can always be assured that he succeeded in life's most important battle; he defeated the battle of not trying.
Successful people will always tell you you can do something. It's the people who have never accomplished anything who will always discourage you from trying to achieve excellent things.
There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.
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