Everyone makes mistakes. It’s part of being human. But what if we could learn to see mistakes in a new light? What if we could see them as opportunities to learn and grow? And what if we could even see them as a way to make the world a more magical place?
That’s the idea behind my leadership purpose: to make mistakes and mischief magical. I believe that by embracing our mistakes and using them as a source of creativity and innovation, we can create a world that is more fun, more interesting, and more alive.
Where my leadership purpose comes from
With the help of friends and colleagues I recently articulated my leadership purpose, it comes from reflecting on
- The trail of mistakes I’ve made in life, from intentionally getting stung by a bee through to being hospitalized from work burnout.
- The support and challenge leaders have given me after making mistakes
- My inner chiId that has kept me learning, smiling and a bit cheeky
A story that helped me articulate my leadership purpose was from 2010, I’d moved to London and was a new manager in Management Consulting at PwC. I presented at a client pitch to get on my first project. I blew it. I’d never been asked to present at a pitch before. I felt so unprepared to be a manager and anxious that I’d not make it in London. The Director for the project, Sanjeev, spoke to me afterwards and told me that he was going to meet with me every week until he was convinced I was ready for my next pitch.
Every week we met up to do elevator pitches privately in a meeting room. Sanjeev would do his pitch, then I’d do mine, he’d push me and give me feedback to improve – often it was quite frank and blunt! We’d repeat our pitches over and over. And that’s how I learned to deliver elevator pitches. Sanjeev made my mistake magical!
How my leadership purpose inspires and motivates
Making mistakes and mischief magical inspires and motivates me as a leader to
- Create space to define success, failure and acceptable failures
- Seek and provide safety and support for making intelligent mistakes and learning from them
- Have fun and not take myself too seriously!
Articulating my leadership purpose has helped me to focus my energy. I’ve always enjoyed helping new leaders and leaders of new leaders, and piecing together my purpose helped me realize that’s where I should focus my energy – after so much trial and error I have lots to share (expect more on this topic). It also explains why I so strongly believe in the importance of establishing Psychological Safety before an individual, team or organization is ready to change, take a risk and/or celebrate a mistake. Psychological safety is important for my work as it involves uncertainty and cross-functional interdependence. I must clarify that not all mistakes are created equal, nor am I suggesting that all mistakes should be celebrated. In making mistakes magical, this quote from Astro Teller, the former head of Google X summarizes my perspective:
“I’m not pro failure, I’m pro learning”
You may be familiar with the research on Psychological Safety by Amy Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School and author of The Fearless Organization. In considering not all mistakes are created equal, Edmondson has shared archetypes of failure of Preventable, Complex, and Intelligent. Further, Edmondson has a spectrum for failure from ‘blameworthy’ e.g. refusing to wear safety goggles when required, to ‘praiseworthy’ e.g. an unsuccessful experiment to develop a cure for a disease. I have a lot more to share on Psychological safety and failure, so it can be a topic for another post. In the meantime I encourage you to check out Edmondson’s research.
Knowing the importance of Psychological Safety, I acknowledge making mistakes is not always easy. It can be scary to step outside of our comfort zone and try new things and without the right support there are consequences. But if we can create an environment where we embrace the fear and uncertainty, we can open ourselves up to a world of possibilities.
So if you’re feeling stuck, or if you’re looking for a way to add some magic to your life, I invite you to try something new. Make a mistake. Be mischievous. And see what happens. You might just surprise yourself.