In his book, Break Open the Sky, Steven Bauman writes:
Despite our near-phobic fear of failure, the facts suggest that it's actually a common, almost universal, experience:
- 75 percent of venture-capital-backed start-ups fail, and 95 percent do not meet the initial expectations.
- 40 percent of CEOs don't last eighteen months.
- 70 to 90 percent of mergers and acquisitions fail to add shareholder value.
- 81 percent of new hires don't work out.
- 99 percent of new patents never earn a penny.
- 95 percent of new products introduced in a given year fail.
- 68 percent of information technology projects fail to meet their goals.
- 88 percent of New Year's resolutions end in failure.
- 100 percent of all human bodies fail.
It seems Alexander Pope was right when he said, "Errare humanum est," (to err is human).
