October 22, 2010
Author: Failure is part of the path to success
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
Robby and Kathy Slaughter made their CRHP weekends in Indianapolis two years ago, and Robby said he found the experience to be “pretty transformative for me.”
CRHP stands for Christ Renews His Parish — a weekend experience devoted to spiritual life organized with a group of men or a group of women in the parish. Participants often join a team to present the next weekend experience to others, and that is what Slaughter did at his parish, Immaculate Heart of Mary in north central Indianapolis.
Slaughter was the featured speaker at the Evansville Girl Geek Dinner, held at the Acropolis in Evansville Oct. 19. His topic was his new book, “Failure, The Secret to Success.”
Slaughter dedicated his book to his “CRHP brothers and team members. “They were inspirational to me and I wanted to honor their inspiration by putting them in the acknowledgements.”
Slaughter spoke in a telephone interview with the Message. He said that the premise of his book is that “failure is essential in life and in business” and recognizing that reality allows people “to embrace failure as a part of the path to success.”
Among his examples from history are personal stories involving Abra-ham Lincoln who lost many elections in his early career, Michael Jordan who was cut from his high school basketball team, and Bettye Davis who was turned away at the Hollywood train station.
Business failures include the disastrous switch to “New Coke” and the dramatic return to number one status in soft drink marketing a year later with Coca Cola Classic.
He also cited the failure of the French to complete the Panama Canal and how it provided lessons for the Americans who accomplished it.
Girl Geek dinners were designed for women who enjoy technical conversation to go to learn — guys are allowed, except they have to come with a girl, according to Mary Biever of Evansville, a member of the group.
The dinners were originally started because the founder found women didn’t want to always be in the minority at technical topic dinners, she said. Evansville is the fifth U.S. city to have a Girl Geeks chapter.