I am shocked that wealthy parents used their money to protect their kids from experiencing failure in the shocking college application scam revealed this week. It can be no different in corporate or entrepreneurial life.
What we teach our daughters is what every leader needs to teach their teams:
I remember being absolutely gutted that Cadbury didn’t hire me on their management training scheme, but I went on to join House of Fraser’s management training scheme and led a large team aged 21.
I was mortified when consulting firm Arthur Anderson wouldn’t hire me because I had a part time degree and didn’t attend university full time, but I then joined Marconi and got to travel to Milan, Munich, and Dublin on the corporate jet as part of my global role.
I was heartbroken that we reduced the scope outsourcing deal between Marconi and CEC at the 11th hour so that my department was no longer part of the transfer, but then I joined Xbox which led to them relocating me to Seattle and I got to be part of the team that created the Guinness book of record winning Kinect Camera.
I work with extremely successful executives who have experienced not getting their perfect job first time, who occasionally get fired, or who have screwed up a product launch, and I tell them each the same thing: you will learn more from your mistakes than you will your successes.
When one door doesn’t open it can be surprising what comes next. If we can’t teach others how to survive disappointment, how will they survive without us cushioning every fall when we move onto our next opportunity?
It is not just kids who need to toughen up, help your teams today get a thicker skin, without second guessing and protecting every possible mistake or inadequacy.
Dedicated to growing your business,
Val
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