Link to the video is below.
Today we're going to talk about failure. If I asked you to think of the strongest leader you've ever worked for, what would come to mind? A good example or a bad one. I want to tell you a story about the strongest leader that I've ever worked for and what he taught me about failure. He was a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army, which is like the CEO of an 800 person company involved in work that is very much life and death. He was a very serious man in a very serious job. In the Army, the first thing every leader does when they take over is give you their leadership philosophy, which is kind of like when companies issue a value statement.
It pretty much goes the same way. You hear it and then you forget about it. Unless the leader takes actions to reinforce that culture and that statement. So when this man told me, I care about three traits in my mid level leaders, character, candor and competence. I didn't think much of it except nice alliteration, sir. But then he said more, he said, and competence is the one I care the least about. That seemed strange to me. So I asked some kind of clarifying question. He explained, we're all new at our jobs, you and even me, that's the nature of the Army. There's room to mess up to fail and learn. That's how you develop competence. Candor matters, so that we can tell each other what we think and when we mess up and it goes both ways. I always want you to tell me what you really think. But on character, I have no wiggle room. As an officer in the Army, you have my full confidence. But if I lose faith in your character, then you're done.
I walked away thinking that was interesting for two reasons. I had never had any other senior officer give me their trust before making me earn it. I wondered if he'd stick by his words, when I inevitably messed up. You see, I was a Lieutenant, which is like a baby officer. A few months later, we were doing our first major exercise and a year long preparation to go to war. We were living in tents out in some freezing mud in Tennessee, going through the drills. One night, we had our first mission to debrief the colonel, the big head Boss. I was the intelligence officer, the expert on the enemy, the person that you really don't want to mess up and my part was not good. I did the best I could. and I was clearly willing to learn.
So no question on character, but it was not what the big boss wanted to see and he made that very clear in front of everyone. One of my colleagues right afterwards said, Well, at least you know how to take one on the chin. I remember sitting with my head in a corner, wondering what my new boss would have to say, and how angry he would be. He walked over to our group and he said, what I will never forget. Well, guys, that was rough. Good thing, we have plenty of time to improve, right? I think my jaw must have hit the ground. Because he said, that have been the 10th brief, I'd be a little upset. But it was the first brief. So let's just make it better.
I learned something so important on that exercise. It wasn't how to breathe. It wasn't even about competence. It was that the actions that leaders take are so much more important than their words. The man had told me he actually expected failure. But I'd heard so many leaders say that, and then still yell and bluster. He was different, he hadn't just said there would be room for failure, room for competence to develop. He'd gone out and he created the room. He's the leader that taught me it's not what you say. It's what you do. Only leaders can create and reinforce a culture that counteracts the blame game, and that makes people feel comfortable and responsible for learning from failure. As the leader, you can insist that your organization develops a clear understanding of what happened and not of who did it when things go wrong.
If you want your people to help you spot existing and pending failures and learn from them, then as leaders, you have to make it safe to speak up. If you're the leader that makes it safe to fail. That also means it's safe to innovate, safe to learn, safe to grow, and safe for your people to become confident. You'll understand that you'll have a huge competitive advantage. It's a resource in your organization. So if someone who works for you was asked to think of the strongest leader they know, do you think they would think of you. Never forget, culture is the strongest emotional resource you have available at your discretion. It's right up there with your human, technological and financial resources. Of course, you shouldn't ignore it. Learn to harness it and go forth and be great every day.
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