Famous Bad Decisions / Mistakes Wanted

"All in the valley of Death

   Rode the six hundred."

The Charge of the Light Brigade is a good example of bad communication.

Nixon and the Watergate Scandal. 

Nixon had done a some pretty positive stuff as president, was a pretty smart political operator, had pretty high approval ratings, won his re-election by a landslide.  Now he's only remembered for the Watergate coverup

DrBoost said:

In reply to Puddy46 :

Thanks all! I appreciate the brain storming. They are all good, but I think Bill Buckner fits the bill perfectly!

Are you sure you want to use a sports reference? I do a lot of speeches and presentations and find sports references only land with a smaller subset of most audiences. It usually lands solidly with them, but the rest of the people get nothing from it. 

Mezzanine said:

DrBoost said:

In reply to Puddy46 :

Thanks all! I appreciate the brain storming. They are all good, but I think Bill Buckner fits the bill perfectly!

Are you sure you want to use a sports reference? I do a lot of speeches and presentations and find sports references only land with a smaller subset of most audiences. It usually lands solidly with them, but the rest of the people get nothing from it. 

Yeah, I have no clue who the hell Bill Buckner is or what he did.

Michael Jordan was picked 3rd in the draft. 

The Bears traded up to draft something called Munch Trubuttsky. They could have had Pat Mahomes, even without the trade. 

Bay of Pigs invasion?

I agree it's a challenge to find something known to a wide audience that isn't going to be so controversial as to distract from what you're saying.

Who was the "journalist" that wrote about the Gulf of Tonkin incident that wasn't?

The very first one that comes to mind is LBJ and Vietnam.

https://theconversation.com/the-choice-lbjs-decision-to-go-to-war-in-vietnam-38410

AMiataCalledSteve said:

OJ Simpson?

Not a jew.

DrBoost, this may actually play well with your audience...broadly known, relatable, not likely to offend anyone.

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

But guess who is, Hall of Famer Rod Carew.

John Lerro, captain involved in the Skyway Sunshine Bridge Disaster - Tampa Florida in 1980.  Doubt he did much work as a boat captain after.

What a heartbreaking story to read about.  Watch the documentaries but do so with the warning they will trigger some emotions. 

Nothing like a $280M pizza delivery: 

Bitcoin Pizza Day marks the day that Laszlo Hanyecz made the first recorded purchase of a physical good using Bitcoin. He spent 10,000 Bitcoin to purchase two Papa John’s pizzas on May 22, 2010. Since Papa John’s didn’t accept Bitcoin as payment, he posted a 10,000 Bitcoin offer on Bitcointalk.org and Jeremy Sturdivant, a 19-year old then, took the offer for an estimated $41, bought the two pizzas and delivered.

In reply to Puddy46 :

he converted!

DrBoost said:

In reply to Puddy46 :

Thanks all! I appreciate the brain storming. They are all good, but I think Bill Buckner fits the bill perfectly!

If your focus is on an unintended action / mistake.  (I of course am assuming you are nowhere near Boston of course!!).   This clearly was not a "decision" on his part though.   It might be a good example of how even a highly skilled athlete (person) can succumb to pressure though, and make a mistake.  If that is more what you are looking for.

In reply to SV reX :

It does fit the bill. Thanks. Great example.

In reply to aircooled :

It's more of a focus on the fact that someone did good (Buckner's record is quite good), but made one mistake that became what they are known for. There are a few others mentioned here. I'm going to run them through my head and see which one fits. Some are great, but the subject matter doesn't really fit. 

A few more:

Bernie Madoff

Aaron Burr

My job is basically finding engineering and production mistakes. I have some good books on engineering blunders.

Here's a few

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/23-engineering-disasters-of-all-time

Delorean popped into my head.  Legendary car designer, industry innovator, automotive pioneer, whizzed it all away with a bad decision, cemented his place in history from it.