Quote of the Day - The Man in the Arena

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat. -Theodore Roosevelt

I first came across this quote when I was in my late 20s. I had just had a technical presentation shredded apart by a NASA manager whom I would later learn was famous for his ruthless criticisms of others' work. (In his humble opinion, his work was technically impeccable. Although others disagreed, they kept silent because they were his employees. He was truly a legend in his own mind.)

Much of the criticism was (I felt) unfair. It dealt with tangential issues or things unrelated to my presentation. I kept calm and quiet after the presentation, living by the axiom to never let them see you sweat, but I was inwardly seething. One of the older engineers with 30 years experience took me aside afterwards. He showed me the quote, which I photocopied and kept. (No Internet back then, even for NASA.)

The older I get, the more I realize the wisdom in this quote. It is easy to carp, point out what others did wrong, and what they should have done better. It is also easy to see these obvious solutions afterwards, with infinite time to reflect on what you should have done. It is harder to see those solutions, real-time, when you have to do something and do it now—with imperfect information and limited resources. Done is indeed better than perfect. Good enough in time to matter is better than perfect when it is too late.

Yesterday Blue Origin blew up its New Glen rocket and may have destroyed its only launch pad. Today many people are pointing and laughing. A week earlier many of those same folks were carping about the Starship test, complaining it wasn't perfect and showing how SpaceX came up short.

I have never been a fan of Blue Origin. I have dealt with them professionally. Yet my reaction on hearing about what happened was not "Ha! Ha!" It was just "damn!" Because of all the bones I may want to pick with Bezos and Blue Origin, they are in the arena. They, like Musk and SpaceX, are doing deeds.

One of the most pernicious aspects of carping critics is that they discourage doing. Many are afraid to go forward for fear of harsh criticism. It does not matter what you do, you will make mistakes. There is a saying that good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment. If you don't try, you cannot fail. You may not accomplish much, but at least you have not failed or had to get pointed out as having stumbled or been told what you could have done better.

But, as Roosevelt states, the credit belongs to the man actually in the arena. He who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again. There really is no effort without error or shortcoming. Don't mind the critics. Do.