Tag Archives: learning

Lessons from Failed Expirements

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“‘But,’ he told Harrington, ‘it is of no consequence whether it worked or not. It was an experiment as I told you once before, not made to show but to satisfy me that I was all right.’ And he furthermore explained to Craig that although ‘Mr. H says that some of our experiments were useless…after he has had more experience in this business, he will find that No experiments are useless.’ Edison recognized that failed experiments often provided important insights during the research process, but Harrington and other backers were interested only in positive results.” - Paul Israel, Edison: A Life of Invention (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1998), 61.

What seems to have set Thomas Edison apart was not a particular genius in inventing so much as a willingness to try. He had no fear of failure. He tried and tried and tried again. Failure simply became a building block for the future. While his financial backers might have struggled with his concept of failure because of their incessant need for results; Edison continued to plug away at his own pace and on his own sense of progress. I am amazed at how counterintuitive this is. Today’s culture is every bit as ‘positive results’ oriented as his was and failure is never an option, especially when finances are on the line. How many people and ideas have been labeled useless simply because they were not immediate financial hits?

The lesson here seems to be the need to press forward. Keep learning. Move past those who are willing to abandon or deride you for failure. It is in those failed attempts that true success might be found.

learn for change

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Most leadership BOOKS (not reading) seem like a huge waste of time. The best ideas can usually be summed up in 150 pages less than the publisher and author actually used. Here are a few books that are worth their price tag that have had a profound impact on my leadership and lifestyle:

this job sucks!

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hasn’t everyone had a job that really sucked? i hate to admit it but while i was in college – in the era before the current laws on phone solicitation – i was that guy who called during dinner to sell you a time share that you didn’t need and couldn’t afford. i took the job because it promised ‘bonuses’, had a flexible schedule and was better than what i was doing before (believe it or not). the only thing that was promising about the job was the information i had about it before i started. i carried on through it all — the rah-rah motivational first session, the stupid script training, the half truths i was being told concerning the homes i was calling being (secret= they weren’t actual ‘winners in jeep grand cherokee drawing’), and of course the necessary shady characters that were running the joint. i got hung up on, cussed out, lied to, cheated out of bonuses and worked in a cruddy office. beyond that, i really didn’t like talking on the phone or with strangers.

however, that single sucky job has paid dividends time and time again. i have become convinced that having learned how to sell time shares over the telephone (a product and an environment i didn’t believe in) that now i could talk to anyone about anything. today, if i have a product or an item that i actually do believe in, with all integrity, i can talk with anyone about it at any time. i also learned to be concise, articulate clearly and to not give up – cause there will be someone out there interested in what i have to say. + talking on the phone to strangers these days —- no sweat!

so the question to you is this… what is your sucky job?  AND what have you learned from it?

with the right frame of mind, i think we can grab great leadership concepts from our worst experiences.

Losing your training wheels in Leadership

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when you first learned to ride, what was the color of your bike?

RED?

Mine was. Ok, it wasn’t my bike. My friend Brian from down the street had a small red bike. Mine was a full-sized, used, hand-me-down bmx. I am not even sure how my dad could have found training wheels for it. The top tube (middle bar for those of you who don’t ride) was almost as far up from the ground as I was. However, the red bike Brian had fit just right. It was a perfect height from the ground for a 5 year old. It had training wheels too! But the greatest thing about his bike is that it gave me confidence to build on for riding my own bike. A few spins on that puppy taught me that I could possibly learn to ride without the training wheels. His dad set us free the very next week. Sure, he held the seat and started us down a small hill near his house to help us get going, but by the end of week two we were flying — skidding to stops AND MOST IMPORTANTLY I was getting the courage to step up to my full-sized bmx.

Leadership is like learning to ride a bike. You will start slow, it will come to you over time, once you learn you won’t forget AND you will gain confidence with each success to step up into bigger situations. Akin to bike riding, you can gain some confidence and some assistance by tapping the experience offered by others who have learned to ride and are out there ‘enjoying the sport’. Save yourself some early pain by dedicating yourself to learning about leadership and easing your way into it, possibly even getting a mentor.

That is what these blog articles will be for… to help you get going. I don’t have all the answers, so you won’t find me writing all the articles. My goal is to make the early experiences in leadership more beneficial. Odds are you will still have some crashes that will cause some pain – those are unavoidable, even with training wheels and assistance. But as you come to experience the thrill of leadership and glean from the insights of others, I am betting you will in turn become a leader who is reaching your potential.

I am looking forward to counting you in as a leader who is learning and making positive impacts in your world!

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  • start processing WHO will make for a great mentor

so you want to be mentored?

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In search of self improvement or a desire to move forward professionally, young people land on the idea that they need a mentor. However, wanting a mentor or teacher is a whole lot easier than the process of being mentored. Here are a few quick things to consider on the subject:

- go look for one – It sounds too absurd, but it is all too true that most people want a mentor to come looking for them. ANY individual that you would want to have as a mentor is not just sitting around bored. They have things going on and lots of people who want their time — that is in fact the reason that you want them! They know something that you don’t about your job, about life or about how to lead their families. If you want some of their time, go ask for it. Don’t sit in your office crying about the fact that no one will invest in you. No one will invest in you because you haven’t asked them to.

- make it a priority, not a leftover – since this is more than likely something you are doing outside of the scope of your paying job, there might be a tendency to treat this like a personal friendship or a hobby — don’t do that. Treat this like a meeting with your boss who’s opinions should have significant impact on your reality. For starters, SHOW UP ON TIME OREARLY! If you are unavoidably running behind, at least call. Next, get the appt. on your calendar as a ‘can’t miss’item; do not treat it as something that you will wipe out if some other meetings come up. For peet’s sake, this is your personal & professional development we are talking about, don’t let that become a third tier item. Also, bring at least one discussion item to the table each time for them to weigh in on. Don’t expect your mentor to lead every conversation; bounce stuff off of them that is important to your situation.

- don’t play games with reality - You aren’t ready to be mentored if you aren’t ready to be honest; about yourself, your situation, your work ethic, your morals, your finances, your family, your priorities, your ambitions —- ALL of it. There is no bigger waste of time on this earth than to trying to mentor a person who is blowing smoke about who they really are. Don’ bother meeting if you can’t be truthful about your reality. Mentors aren’t afraid of your reality, in fact they embrace it. Helping you move forward is why they are there.

- be ready for some pain - Once you have been honest, brace yourself for to hear things that no one else is telling you. Your gut reaction will be that “this guy is wrong and/or mean”. Not so. What is going to take place when you have found a good mentor are a series of questions, reality checks, performance penatrating observations and soul searches. After that, they will also tell you the truth in a way that likely no one has before. You want them to do this… trust me. If they didn’t do this you wouldn’t need them. If others were doing this, you wouldn’t need a mentor. Don’t shy away from what they need you to hear. Don’t flinch. Don’t whine about it to others. Take it. Think on it. Watch to see if what they tell you isn’t truer than you first thought.

- practice the advice that they give – Now, here is the rub. – Nothing up to this point matters if you don’t TRY THE PRACTICAL ADVICE that this person gives you. You might as well go talk to a therapist if you just need someone to talk to and are interested in hearing back some reflections. In fact, I will go so far as to say that you don’t need to meet a second time until you have practiced and tried some of the practical advice from your first meeting with them. Here is a  test of whether you have found a good mentor = they will give you some pratical things that you can implement into your life. Nice people are great, but far too many people operate in the land of ideas. You want someone who will practically help shape your life in the most important areas. When you find this person and the challenge you to do something, for goodness sake and the sake of their sanity, DO IT!

- invite feedback – You can practice this without mentors + this is a sure fire way to get what you really need to hear. Don’t just simple ask, “how am I doing?” but ask more detailed questions about specific performance related areas of your life. Let trusted people know that you want to grow, how your trying to grow, that their critique is welcome, and then don’t get defensive when it comes. For your mentor, invite them to ask follow up questions about the advice that they have given you (hopefully you have earnestly put it into action). Ask them follow up questions that get you more specific data on the areas where you know you need to grow. But, DON’T, DON’T, DON’T get defensive! You don’t need to win a mentor over because they are already on your side. So, when the feedback comes, listen, take notes, and then go at it again.

- pay for lunch, but nothing else - Professional coaches are helpful, but they’re also motivated by the money that you are sending their way. You know you have found your mentor (we will look at “qualities of a mentor” at some other time) when they are motivated by helping you grow – period. However, practice the old axiom, who ever has the agenda for the meeting ought to be the one buying the breakfast, coffee or lunch – so in this case, that means YOU!