Twenty years ago, I walked into the World Bank convinced I had solved a problem affecting 2.2 billion people. I was wrong about the solution — but right about the problem, and it took a two-year rejection to teach me the difference.
I had invested heavily in adjustable-power lenses that I believed were a game-changer for low-income countries. The World Bank wasn’t convinced. After two years of lobbying, I got a crushing no.
