There isn’t one senior manager in this company who hasn’t been associated with a product that flopped. That includes me.  It’s like learning to ski.  If you aren’t falling down, you’re not learning.

William D. Smithburg (b. 1938) American businessman

(Attributed)

Smithburg was chairman of Quaker Oats.  In Bennis and Nanus, "Leading Others, Managing Yourself," Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge (1985)