Greatest comebacks in history

I love comeback stories, whether it's countries, businesses, teams, etc. What are some comebacks that are worth mentioning?

Meiji restoration, Japan

Miracle on the Han, South Korea under Park Chung Hee

China's reforms under Deng Xiaoping

Manmohan Singh's reform of Indian economy

Disney's rise under Iger

Tesla's rise after going nearly bankrupt

Netflix's domination after getting its butt kicked by Blockbuster 

52 Comments
 

We turned the tide in the Pacific, but the tide in the European theater was turned when the Soviets entered.  The Japanese attacking us was one of the greatest strategic blunders in the history of warfare and it's not as though that's just clear with the benefit of hindsight.  Large contingents of Japanese generals / admirals had studied in the states, seen the economic juggernaut first-hand, and tried to dissuade Yamamoto / more senior leadership from engaging us.  Thoroughly insane for them to have done that and expected any other outcome than an inevitable land invasion of Japan which they would lose (although they would have fought for every single inch of the island, so thank God Truman made the right call in dropping the bombs). 

I come from down in the valley, where mister when you're young, they bring you up to do like your daddy done
 

IBM almost went under in the 90s and Lou Gerstner came on and fixed it. There is a book about it called “Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?” Gerstner went on to be CEO of Carlyle Group after that.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 
JohnnyBananas212


Bump. 10/10 book - would recommend

Definitely. One of my favorite parts they describe is that Lou came on and for a while didn’t do or touch anything. He listened to the people and observed the status quo for a while before cutting divisions and changing things. 

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

“The record for the largest NFL comeback is held by the Minnesota Vikings, who overcame a third-quarter deficit of 33–0 to defeat the Indianapolis Colts 39–36 in overtime during the 2022 NFL season.”

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

That one made me physically ill.

"If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 
Most Helpful

Tyson Fury vs Wilder 

This is WILD

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

The Indian economy is a low tier service oriented mess that is a representation of a techno feudalistic hellhole. I don't think Monmohan Singh or any Indian leader deserves any credit for doing the bare minimum by "liberalization"

 

Business wise, probably Steve Jobs coming back to Apple. He essentially got kicked out of the company he started, when on to start a company called neXt, which then was bought out by Apple so Jobs could return as CEO. Apple needed his vision to run their ship and Jobs also matured over a couple of years. 

In sports, prob Jordan from a physical, mental, legend standpoint. Won three championships in a row, quit, came out of retirement and won three more in a row. (Maybe Tiger winning the 2019 Masters as a 2nd, or Ben Hogan in golf 1953 after getting hitting by a car. Not an all time great, but Brian Robinson on the Commanders getting shot last year and coming back springs to mind.)

 

Stanford vs CU

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

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Have compassion as well as ambition and you’ll go far in life. I am interested in digital immortality. Check out my blog at digitalimmortality.com
 

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