3.11. Lesson 23: Fertile Failure
Edison's proudest boast was that he never allowed himself "to become discouraged under any circumstances." After conducting "thousands of experiments on a certain project without solving the problem," one of the inventor's associates "expressed discouragement and disgust over our having failed 'to find out anything.'" Edison responded to the disgruntled experimenter by "cheerily" assuring him "that we had learned something ... [the] certainty that the thing couldn't be done that way, and that we would have to try some other way."
Edison was interested in the results of his experiments. It almost did not matter whether or not a given result was successful—that is, immediately useful or immediately profitable. ...
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