CEO: Lessons learned versus stupid mistakes

From an internal debate between employee and supervisor when employee raised to supervisor’s attention the mistakes that larger companies have recently made in the headlines…

Thank you for sharing, but it does sound like a justification for failure. Your point is that even big companies make stupid mistakes, so we are just normal. Nothing to worry about. Stop calling us out for our stupid mistakes.

I don’t accept that.

I am fine with failure. I make mistakes all the time. I fail a lot.

But I work really hard to admit my mistakes, take responsibility for my mistakes, learn from my mistakes, and take steps to avoid repeating those mistakes. Otherwise, they are just stupid mistakes and I am doomed to repeat them over and over.

We learn the most from our mistakes. But, we should learn from other people’s mistakes instead of insisting on messing up ourselves to learn that mistake personally. And, we should take responsibility and be accountable. It is only when we feel the pain and shame of the mistake that we can truly take action to change and improve.

And if I am grumpy all the time it is because I see stupid, costly mistakes that could have been avoided if we all took personal responsibility and accountability for our actions and performed at our highest levels.

Some of us do some of the time but all of us don’t all the time.

What is fundamentally lacking in most companies are 1) inattention to results, 2) avoidance of accountability, 3) lack of commitment, 4) fear of conflict, and 5) absence of trust.

Some of us do some of the time but all of us don’t all the time.

Think about it.”

 


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