[stealthn]

Worked on many (technical) projects and programs that were destined to fail for many reasons; culture, cost, slackers, etc. You mentioned the two key ingredients in success; rock star people and inspiration/motivation. If you can get these going for you it may fail but it was outside your control.

I always think outside work for inspiration because somewhere right now someone someone loves is going to die and there's nothing they can do about it; perspective shows you other things are more important in life than work.