The comeback stories of two titans

Achieving success may be a tough climb, making sure you stay on top of the game can be one nerve-wracking battle – but no exercise may be as torturous as picking yourself up and climbing again once you have fallen.

Failure is a bitter pill to swallow, regardless of its source. Although a newbie who is just starting out in his professional life may begin with virtually nothing, at least he has the benefit and the excitement of an open frontier ahead of him. On the other hand, the successful executive or manager who has reached a certain measure of success has the fallback of resources, allies, and the wisdom of experience to see him through.

Resurrection after a fall, though, can appear downright discouraging, at least from the beginning. Think about it: the blow to the ego after one has scaled the summit only to crash headlong into the pit. The doubts that follow after a depletion, both in material wealth, self-confidence, and probably, even relationships. The crushing fatigue that can just overwhelm one enough into throwing in the towel.

Not many people can make a comeback after a fall. That’s why those who do and get a second act are widely applauded – because despite the difficulties, they show it can be done.

J.C. Penney experienced his resurgence at 56 years old, an age when most people are entering retirement. The man who launched the modern department store and made it an everyday fixture in the first decade of the 20th century declared bankruptcy in 1932. He lost hisUS$40 million fortune in the bubble burst that led to the Great Depression. During this time, he also lost his second wife. His health failed. Depression literally sent him to the sanitarium.

But somewhere in the darkness of that valley, he found the inner strength to arrest his decline, get back on his feet, and start the long road back to recovery. Decades later, at the age of 71, Penney could look happily at every state, knowing that it had at least one of his stores; J.C. Penney shop sales then were topping the US$1 billion mark.

Frank Laubach, the father of modern literacy, instituted a reading program in many countries around the globe in the 1950s. What made it unique was that it helped the marginalized people especially in developing countries to read, write, and speak fluent English. To this day, it remains the model for many educators. What many do not know was that prior to starting his campaign to educate the poor, Laubach had deemed himself a failure. An ordained Protestant minister, he had lost by one vote his election to his denomination’s presidency. Seeing an assignment to the Philippines as a second chance, he tried evangelizing the Maranaos – but met with dismal failure.

The price he paid was steep – a couple of his young children died of malaria. Laubach was in his middle 40s by then. Alone, discouraged, removed from his home country, he could not have foreseen his re-emergence – but re-emerge he did.

What makes the ‘comeback stories’ of these men interesting is that they both recognized that they had reached a dead end. It was a pivotal moment in both their lives. The journey had seemed to be over, for all intents and purposes. At the very least, they could look forward only to retirement (or a mental health clinic, in Penney’s case).

They returned to their climb one step at a time. There appeared to be no dramatic vows nor passionate declarations. All it took was a decision – to move on. Plain and simple. They recognized the failure, lived with the discouragement, but decided to move forward, instead of retreating. That was the pivotal point. Trapped in a wilderness, without any clear horizon in sight, they just plodded on, understanding that while the landscape looked bleak, wallowing in it was unacceptable.

Inspite of their diminished confidence, their skills and gifts remained intact. Penney learned from his mistakes, and became a better businessman. He re-examined his past decisions, studied thoroughly and dispassionately the errors made, and considered other strategies. While Laubach’s professional career took a slight detour, the inner mentor in him prevailed. If he could not share his knowledge from the podium of an academe or the standard English textbook to the Maranaos, he would find a better way to communicate.

Perhaps at the end of the day, resurgence is a matter of heart - the will to survive and the capacity to persevere and hang on to the embers of a dream, even when all seems lost. In Penney’s case, it was a department store from one end of America to another. In Laubach’s, it was the transformation of a world through the written and spoken word.

At a time of dwindling budgets and all of us are making do with less, it would be wise to follow the path these men have taken and learn from them. When all else has been removed, what are the inner talents that remain that we can put to use for ourselves and for others? What are the dreams, no matter how small, insignificant, or seemingly impossible, that are worth fighting for – or better yet, worth living for?

If we discover that in our spirits, only then will our inner phoenix fly.

[Published in my column in Manila Bulletin, Business Agenda Section.]