As we fail, we prosper.

Not long ago I read David Halbertam's last book. It's on the Korean "police action" and is called "The Longest Winter."

One of the prime movers behind the death and maiming of thousands of American teenagers and twenty-somethings and millions of Chinese and Koreans, was General Douglas MacArthur--a vast ego swathed in strategically-distressed khaki accented with brass and ribbons. As MacArthur fubar-ed our involvement on the peninsula, he placed his friends in key positions. They added to the fubar-ization of the situation. And for losing lives and billions of dollars of materiel, these friends in key positions i.e. generals, got extra stars, extra medals and fatter retirement packages.

Now comes the advertising portion of today's diatribe. I've noticed recently a couple agencies in particular have given fatter titles to the already-fat-titled people who are leading their agencies into oblivion, obsolescence or obscurity. As those agencies contract in size and fire people (the advertising equivalent of killing boys) the generals, i.e. vice chairman, get even vaster titles, pay packages and even-shinier golden parachutes. Little people die. The fat cats fly.

So learn a lesson. Stop trying so hard. Fail, fail, fail your way upwards.