"The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." - John Powell The articles so far were talking about experiences that posed a change, challenge, a positive stroke. B ut the truth is we all learn not just by what went right but also by what went wrong. If we meet someone who has not committed any mistake, then he is a liar or he is a lifeless stone that is lying on the curb doing nothing. When we try and do something is when we commit mistakes. First of all, I want to differentiate among mistakes, errors and mishaps. All of these 'harm' a person directly or indirectly. Learning is about analysing what led to the harm and how to minimize it. In physical sciences, error is due to limitations of the measuring instrument, or computational accuracy, something that can not be avoided in the given circumstances. You can only try to minimize it. The tennis player gets a fraction of second to decide how he wants to return the ball. Based on the s...
Ever since childhood, we want imitate the elders we adore. It could be a parent, teacher or sibling. That imitation provides an opportunity to learn. As we enter work life, we encounter seniors who are closely associated with our work. While imitating them, we develop technical skills as well as skills about how to interact with people, how to report progress, and how to get work done in the organizational context. There maybe significant mentors/coaches/influencers, but the ‘boss’ has a distinct role to play. Here when I mean boss, it may be boss or 'super boss' i.e. someone further up in the hierarchy. During my research, I observed that a significant number of leaders quoted events where the boss initiated or influenced the development of the leader. And in the case of SME leaders, it was observed that SME owners miss out this channel of learning as they don’t have such a boss. In this research, I also observed the role of external seniors such as a 'consultant' or ...