How barriers have been broken throughout history

There have been many times when I have heard experts say that something cannot be done. They frequently explain exactly why you cannot do something and their explanations are quite reasonable, yet many of these acts are completed anyway.

There are some things people believe a human body just cannot do

You cannot jump off a high building and fly or run faster than people believe is humanly possible, or can you?

When I was a teenager, two track champions were approaching a human speed goal that had never been achieved before, to run a mile in four minutes. The world record was 4 minutes and 1.3 seconds and had remained so for several years, originally set by Sweden’s Gunder Hagg in 1945.

The leading experts at the time, including physiologists, announced that the human body was not capable of running a four-minute mile, which was considered a fact just as it was that no human could jump from a high building and fly.

Amazingly, on 6 May 1954, England’s Roger Bannister broke the barrier and ran a mile in under four minutes. Within a year, several others broke the barrier too, including many school track runners. It is not uncommon that once somebody breaks a barrier, many break it afterwards. Morocco’s El Guerrouj now holds the record at 3 minutes 43.13 seconds.

With regard to the possibility of jumping from a building and flying, this too is no longer considered impossible. A body suit has since been designed to enable you to glide in the air, so flying from a building is now possible too if that is your desire.

Those wanting to be president break barriers too

Several people have become US presidents despite significant barriers. I had barely heard of Barak Obama, the young man from Chicago who seemed intent on running. Ambassador Diane Watson, an experienced democratic politician, once told me: “Barack has tremendous ability, and he will be president someday, just not this year.”

She was wrong; he made it that year. At the beginning, many had heard little of Obama, except that he had given a good speech at the previous Democratic Convention. Some years later there were few, even in his own party, that believed Donald Trump, a real estate millionaire and TV star, was even serious about running for president.

Yet, whether people like them or not, both reached their goals, Obama as a relatively unknown African American running against an experienced six-term Senator and war hero and, much later, Trump with little political experience who had been affiliated with both parties previously. Both believed that they could overcome their barriers, and both did and became president, even though they were told by many that they would fail.

Abraham Lincoln, who lived more than a century ago, had a terrible record. He had failed at just about everything: he failed in business, ran for the Illinois State Legislature and was defeated, went into business again and went bankrupt, unsuccessfully ran for Illinois House Speaker, was defeated in a nomination for Congress, was rejected for an appointment for the US Land Office, was defeated in a US Senate race and two years later was defeated again in nomination for vice president.

Then in 1860, although advised he would not be successful by politicians of several parties, he became the 16th US president as a Republican, broke the barrier and saved the Union.

Past failures can lead to future success

Drucker noted that past failure does not mean future failure. This was Drucker’s argument against a popular idea developed by Professor Lawrence J. Peter, called ‘The Peter Principle’. Professor Peter theorized that people rose to their limits of their competency but many bosses were incompetent and he saw a “bad” boss as his explanation of your misfortune. Drucker, however, said that there was evidence that past failure could be good preparation for future success.

An inexperienced woman was born to a single mother, had grown up in extreme poverty raised by others and had a rough life. With great effort she got a part-time job at an African American radio station in high school and won an oratory contest to gain admission to college.

By the age of 19, she was a co-anchor for the local evening news. Her unusual extemporaneous delivery led to her transfer to daytime talk shows. Still, she was fired once and told she was not right for TV.

However, after boosting a third-rated Chicago TV talk show to first place, they not only kept her but renamed it The Oprah Winfrey Show. It became one of the most successful daytime talk shows ever. As a side benefit, as her fame grew Oprah Winfrey became the first female African American billionaire in history.

A student with the unusual name of Rowland Macy studied business in college, graduated and then opened a retail store. It failed but he started another, which also failed. This happened four times and he failed each time.

Finally, his fifth attempt succeeded even though on the first day he brought in only $11.08 in sales. More than 150 years later, the store still exists and Macy’s added 4.4 million new customers in the last quarter of 2021.

Churchill’s greatest success came after his biggest failure

As First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill convinced the WWI British War Cabinet to undertake what became the largest allied disaster of that war, which was the Dardanelles Campaign and its landing at Gallipoli.

This resulted in more than 200,000 allied casualties. Churchill was forced to resign from the government and he volunteered and served as an army lieutenant colonel on the western front. Having commanded admirals as First Lord of the Admiralty, serving as a lieutenant colonel was a big step down. He also faced significant physical danger and his hut mate was blown apart and killed during an artillery barrage. Churchill survived the war but he had failed in his top job as Sea Lord.

Yet the same individual, with much greater responsibilities, served as Prime Minister during World War II, saved England and the free world including enduring almost a year that the British stood alone against Hitler and the axis powers. Moreover, this one-time failure is now considered the greatest political figure of the 20th century and maybe of all time. Clearly, he accepted no barriers as insurmountable.

Colin Powell failed several times on his way to the top

General Colin Powell did not go to West Point and there was no such thing as affirmative action which could help Powell get a job as he grew up and was promoted in the Army, yet he became a general.

According to his autobiography, My American Journey, as a new brigadier general he made two serious mistakes and received only a mediocre effectiveness report. Since only a small percentage of brigadier generals are promoted to major general, Powell knew his chances were small.

Then, if that was not enough, he felt that he may have mishandled a case of sexual harassment. In his own words, he asked himself if this would be his last strike. He had self-confidence, however, gained from overcoming many prior barriers.

Powell’s thirty-year record of outstanding performance and accomplishments earned him another chance at his second star and that was all he needed. He was promoted to two, three and then four-star positions and eventually became Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the US military’s highest ranking officer under president George H.W. Bush.

He performed well and after retirement was asked to run for president, which he declined but became Secretary of State for President George W. Bush several years later.

My experience

I have never run a four-minute mile, jumped from a high building and tried to fly or become a billionaire. However, when told that I could not achieve or do something, even by experts, I decided myself whether to proceed or not.

At age 14 and with poor vision I was told by a military doctor that I could never fly or attend West Point because I could not pass the vision standards. When I retired from the Air Force as a major general some years after graduating from West Point, I had navigated a B-52 bomber more than 2500 hours and a low-level attack aircraft for 174 combat missions before being given larger responsibilities in research and development.

Do not let any barrier get in the way of what you want to do. Break through or get around the barrier instead.