There is a much shared story attributed to famed businessman Thomas J. Watson Sr. during his tenure as head of IBM. The company, under Watson’s direction, had been increasing inventory despite poor demand, gambling on high levels of post-World War II demand.
When a salesman failed to secure a major government bid—close to $1 million dollars in value—the salesman came to Watson’s office and offered his resignation. Watson sat down with the salesman and asked him what happened. The salesman went through the entire process step by step, describing where mistakes had been made and what had been done differently.
