Perseverance is also a timeless key to success, Wheeler says. Grant, a war hero who later became President, was unsuccessful in his first six attempts to attack and capture Vicksburg, Miss., a key Confederate stronghold. On his seventh try, he succeeded. Gerald Levin showed that same kind of perseverance, Wheeler says, in overcoming repeated setbacks to make the Home Box Office premium cable channel a success. Wheeler believes today's entrepreneurial warriors would be well advised to remember such lessons from a central moment in America's past.
Persistence pays off.
Grant later attained the highest office in the nation himself, riding his success as a national hero. He audaciously set up a satellite distribution system at a time when he was suing the regulators who approved licenses. His persistence paid off, HBO bloomed, and Levin eventually became chairman of Time Warner. It's the next hill that can determine the battle. The first assault was a success, but McDowell failed to see Beauregard's reinforcements coming from the south and west via railroad.