Leadership and Development. Is there anything new under the sun? We recently came across a dog-eared, tattered copy of the timeless article written by Abraham Zaleznik in 1966, "Management of Disappointment" in the Harvard Business Review. One thing is for sure, at some point along your career in a family business you will experience disappointment. Excerpt: "No one is immune to encounters with disappointment. More significantly, individuals who want power and responsibility or seek creative expression are especially vulnerable to episodes in which reality does not conform to one's wishes or intentions." Disappointment is not evil or bad - on the contrary it may signal a window for accelerated growth. When a young student asked Edison how he felt after failing so many times while attempting to perfect the light bulb, Edison replied, "Young man, I did not fail. I was very successful at discovering thousands of ways that the light bulb would not work." If you do not have the 1967 November issue of Harvard Business Review and would like a free reprint of this article, call Jay Perry at ReLATIVELY Speaking.