Poor Ken Jennings. He finally went bust on Jeopardy last night, after answering final jeopardy incorrectly. The answer? Most of this firm’s 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year. Ken said FedEx. Nancy Zerg, a real estate agent from Ventura, Calif., said H&R Block. She was right, he was wrong.
While I feel kind of bad for the sunny-faced Jennings, I’m sure he’ll be just fine. That’s because he’ll always be a winner, even if he loses once in a while. Back in October, I wrote about Ken in How to Stay on a Winning Streak. What makes him such a winner is that he doesn’t let mistakes get him down. That idea, which comes from a book called Confidence by Harvard’s Rosabeth Moss Kanter, has really stuck with me. When trouble strikes, it’s tempting to let the situation spiral out of control. The better idea is to have confidence that everything will turn out fine, just like Ken did every time he gave an incorrect question on Jeopardy, only to bounce back. I’m sure good old Ken isn’t sitting at home in his underwear right now. He’s probably on his way to his next triumph. You’re the best, Ken!
