How To Gain Valuable Experience Being A Leader In Business

Before it had been considered that true leaders (especially business ones) never made mistakes. But things have been changed. Leaders are also humans and it is human to err and make mistakes. All big companies have a collection of mistakes to boast of. Here is the vivid example of it. In 1986 General Electric under Jack Welch’s leadership had acquired 80% of Kidder Peabody Company for US$ 600mln. This mistake cost them US$ 1,2 bln.

Jack Welch commented: “I rewarded people for their mistakes if they failed in an attempt to make changes. The main thing here is not to be inactive and afraid of making mistakes. I keep saying to people that if your boss managed to buy Kidder Peabody and goofed up all business than you may do the same. This saying appeared on the front-page of The Wall Street Journal nineteen times. So, if a boss is able to do it and overcome the consequences than you have a free hand. Any way, you are not likely to do anything worse than I have done.”

Jack Welch says that he has created a culture in which a failure is viewed positively. “Punishment for failures may lead to the situation when nobody dares to make any move”, he thinks. You have to take a closer look at the possibilities of taking risks and learn from own mistakes and failures.

Japanese companies adopted this method long ago by putting into practice the employee acknowledgement for ideas and their attempt to implement it.

Failure is not viewed as the cause for dismissal. The employees’ inactivity at work will rather be the reason for dismissal. These employees got an opportunity to make mistakes without being afraid of failures. This is the way to be free to act and make a move since the fear of failure, loosing job and being blamed by others is not dominated over people. They simply do their best for a good performance.

This method is widely adopted in industry. A General Manager of a leading US corporation rewarded company Top Managers for The Best Failure. People get astonished hearing that. Such fact speaks for considerable change in culture and mentality towards failures in business that not long ago would be concealed rather than rewarded.

So, it turns out that the most valuable experience is gained not from our success but from our mistakes and failures. “The most important knowledge and experience were not gained through my education process but through the faults and mistakes. I tried to learn from small mistakes”- said Charles Handy. And he is not the only one. If there is a contest on the Grand Failure, each of us would have something to offer.

One of the British newspapers issued a weekly column named “My biggest mistake” and it turned out that there were many people wished to tell about their mistakes. One by one, they confessed of their terrible failures. It is remarkable that many people, especially wise managers, seem to treasure up their faults just because each fault is a lesson that sticks to your memory for the whole life.

Although, failures deeply shake us to the bottom of our hearts, we do not tend to change the habitual lifestyle. We do not want to attract attention by doing things wrong. We are trying to mix with the crowd. The fear of failure is a basic instinct that may grow into phobia when doing business.

In many companies the fear of failure becomes an instinct for survival. We come to work and learn. But we perfectly realize that in case something goes wrong we would be laid off. That is why we are often driven by the idea of “it is better to do a little but in the right way rather than a lot but in the wrong way”. This mentality holds us back and does not let us use our potential to the full.

It is well known that the only way to avoid mistakes is to do nothing and do not go beyond the limits of the task showing minimum activity and actions.

Scientists studying risk management strategy have found that people are more likely to take risks if it is their voluntary decision. In this case they feel they will be able to take control over this decision and share responsibility among all members of the team. On the contrary, people are less capable of taking risks if they are not confident of its necessity and if the risk outcomes are not fairly allocated among the team members. In other words, people will rather take risks being the member of the team since everybody will bear responsibility in case of failure, and you will not be the only one to blame. That is why it is very significant for a manager not to be afraid of failures and take a philosophical approach in coping with faults and mistakes.

Jack Welch used to say: “I hope you understand that business is a chain of faults and mistakes. It is not a big deal. Everybody makes mistakes. It is as hard to predict as a hit on a ball. The main thing is to learn from your mistakes and do not get stick on them just loosing time and possibilities to go ahead.”

So, have useful but small mistakes!!!

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