One might be tempted to think I so far had a smooth, steadily upward sloping career path. Not true. See below (this is the top of the iceberg; soon 50, I don’t recall all failures):
School
My teachers in primary school recommended my for high school “with reservations” only.
I’ve been a mediocre pupil who graduated with an average of 2.2 on a scale from 1 (best) to 6 (worst) with >4 just passed.
I quit math in grade 10 (of 13) – BIG mistake.
Major learning: don’t quit math. It’s super useful, actually.
University
I failed my first math class.
I also failed my second macro class.
I finally failed my fist civil law class.
I graduated university with a “just passed” (4.0) in management (an “honor” as Heinz König later said at my job interview at ZEW).
Major learning: don’t quit math. It’s super useful, actually. And so is civil law, at least for real life.
Jobs I didn’t get
Very tip of the iceberg – these are the rejections after flyout, the desk rejections I can’t recall any longer.
2001: Assistant professorship at KU Leuven. Job went to Rene Belderbos.
Ca. 2002: W2 professorship (associate professor) at TU Darmstadt. Job went to Patrick Puhani.
Ca. 2003: Professorship at Uni Basel. Job went to Michael Beckmann.
Ca. 2003: Professorship at Uni Potsdam, joint with position as Head of Department at DIW. Job went to Axel Werwatz (I think).
Ca. 2004: Professorship at Uni Essen. Don’t remember who got the job.
Ca. 2004: Professorship at Uni Nürnberg. Job went to Regina Rihphan.
I think I also had a flyout to TU Berlin ca. 2005.
2022: full professorship & chair in entrepreneurship at Stockholm School of Economics after a headhunter made me apply. I did not even get a flyout. One of my younger coauthors got an offer which he declined. Positions remained unfilled.
Major learning: have some patience until the “right” job comes along (don't ask me what the "right" job might be).
Grants I didn’t get
2020 Swiss National Science Foundation
2020 Danish National Research Foundation
2010 Swiss National Science Foundation
2009 Swiss National Science Foundation
2002 Joint application with Richard Freeman rejected by EU framework program.
Major learning: revise and resubmit. I actually think all my Swiss National Science Foundation grant applications that I did get received first round rejections. We collected the comments and rewrote the applications.
Papers that were initially rejected
Super many, really. Here are the ones that really hurt.
The best paper I ever contributed to - fourth round rejection at Management Science; eventually came out in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 2015 and was quite similar to our very first draft.
Third round rejection at Quantitative Marketing and Economics; eventually came out in Journal of Media Economics 2012.
Rejections at Organization Science, Academy of Management Journal and I think a few more; eventually came out in Strategic Management Journal 2018. Paper took 14 years from the beginning to the publication.
Major learning: unclear. There’s an outlet for all papers. But then again, not sure what the value of a paper in a mediocre journal is.