Item — HN Reader

His company was responsible for repairing the 10 freeway after the Northridge earthquake. They got a bonus for finishing early, but there were lots of stories of him personally harassing inspectors and pulling inspector flags (where re-work was supposed to be done).

I know that one section in particular that they repaired was done really shoddy -- there was giant lip between pavement sections that would make your car shudder like it hit a giant pothole. Everytime I drove over it I cursed their horrible work and was pissed that they earned a bonus for doing half-assed work.

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On the other hand, his work on the MacArthur Maze (mentioned in the article) saved the Bay Area transportation grid.

That one project makes up for every alleged wrong he did in his entire lifetime:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacArthur_Maze

Some other titans you may want to read about who achieved great success through sheer force of will:

- Frank Robinson, Founder, Robinson Helicopters (#1 helicopter manufacturer in the world by unit sales)

- Chuck Yeager: "The X-1 wasn't a plane. Chuck Yeager was the X-1." (The world's first and only combined test pilot/rocket mechanic. That combination was needed to break the sound barrier and survive.)

- the Florida airport consultant/GM who saved San Jose from bankruptcy by saving $2 billion in overruns on Terminal 3.

A less than favorable review of Chuck Yeager's performance and attitude handling the NF-104 air/spacecraft: http://www.kalimera.org/nf104/stories/stories_11.html. And politics as usual http://www.kalimera.org/nf104/stories/stories_13.html.

A classic example of Goodheart's Law [1]:

> When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law