"Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein."

History is riddled with irony.  Take, for example, the story of the English rock band, The Beatles and the story of how they first "made it big."  The story begins with their long-time manager, Brian Epstein, who tried to set up an audition for his artists with a number of record companies in London in December, 1961.  After multiple rejections, he secured an audition with Decca record executive Mike Smith on New Year's Day, 1962.  The Beatles (which at that time consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Pete Best) performed and recorded 15 songs, most of which they had performed in various clubs over the years.  However, the set list also included 3 original Lennon-McCartney tunes.  Decca would ultimately reject the Beatles - one executive (reportedly Dick Rowe, even though he denied it until his dying day) told their manager, "Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein."

If you listen to The Beatles Anthology Volume 1, Epstein goes on to tell how he took the audition tapes over to EMI records, where he met producer George Martin, "the man who would produce 20 number one hits by my artists."  Imagine being the individual who said "no" to the Beatles.  It's not exactly known for sure who ultimately rejected the Beatles - it could have been either Mike Smith, Dick Rowe, or producer Tony Meehan, though most contemporary sources suggest it was Rowe.  Which group did Decca records choose instead? The group was called Brian Poole and the Tremeloes (you may have heard their hit, "Do you love me?" which appeared in the 1987 movie Dirty Dancing).  I guess things could have turned out worse - still, there is no comparison between the Tremeloes and the Beatles!

There are other examples in the sports and entertainment world.  Can you imagine missing out on professional basketball player, Michael Jordan, one of the greatest players to ever play the game?  He was drafted third, after Hakeem Olajuwon (drafted number 1 overall by the Houston Rockets) and Sam Bowie (drafted second by the Portland Trailblazers).  Olajuwon had a Hall of Fame career too, but Sam Bowie was plagued by injuries throughout his 10 year career in the NBA and never led his team to a championship.  The Trailblazers already had Clyde Drexler and weren't interested in another guard.

Seven-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Tom Brady was drafted in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft.  There were 198 other players that were drafted ahead of him!  I don't know for certain, but there's a good chance that he's outlasted every single one of them, and no one has come close to matching any of his records or championship wins.  

These are just a few examples.  I haven't even talked about some of history's biggest missed opportunities in the business world,  For example, there is the story of how Kodak had an opportunity early on to invest in digital cameras (one of Kodak's own engineers, Steven Sasson, actually came up with the idea - Kodak declined because they felt it would threaten traditional film).  There's also the story of how billionaire Ross Perot had a chance to buy Microsoft in 1979 for between $40 million to $60 million.  The social media company MySpace had an opportunity to purchase Facebook, and the home video store chain Blockbuster could have purchased Netflix and declined to do so.  As I stated at the beginning, history is indeed riddled with irony.  And as it turns out, people throughout history have a lot to say about missed opportunities.

First, when it comes to making a bet on the future, it's a gamble.  It's difficult to predict the future and how things will eventually turn out.  Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair from 1992 until 2017, once said, "History is nothing if not an epic tale of missed opportunities."  And, at times, opportunities are staring us right in the face and we fail to recognize them.  Mark Twain said, "I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one."  

Second, and perhaps more importantly, these examples should tell us that if we are faced with an opportunity, we should carefully consider it.  "Opportunities of a life-time" don't come often for a reason.  There's a really good chance that if we don't take advantage of an opportunity, someone else will do so.  As Andy Rooney said, "...opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you miss."

Third, we shouldn't be afraid that taking advantage of an opportunity will bring change.  Opportunities require investment of time, energy, and resources.  Thomas Edison said, "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."  

Finally, don't be afraid if you take advantage of an opportunity and find out it was the wrong decision.  We tend to be too worried about failure.  Failure can be costly for sure, but we only learn when we fail.  

Just as important, if you fail to take advantage of an opportunity, learn from that and move on.  The architect I.M. Pei said, "Stop worrying about missed opportunities and start looking for new ones."  Abraham Lincoln said, "I don't really have any regrets because if I choose not to do something there is usually a very good reason.  Once I've made the decision, I don't view it as a missed opportunity, just a different path."