In one of the presentations at a recent internal conference, the speaker discussed the need to allow for some failure in our corporate culture. It is through these stumbles that we eventually learn and grow.
No one sets out to fail. We often limit our exposure by restricting our attempts to the familiar areas where we've enjoyed previous success.
I experienced this phenomenon firsthand over the past weekend. My son asked to play catch in the back yard. We had often used a small Nerf football that is easy to throw and catch. Wanting to challenge him, I asked him to get the real leather football.
He hesitated. The leather ball is much bigger. His five-year old hands have difficulty holding the ball. His face immediately twisted into a pout and then a frown.
"I can't. It's too hard."
He asked to go back to the smaller ball. I explained that he needed to learn to throw the right way so that he would be prepared for real games. After a round of gesticulations that ended just short of tears, he finally relented.
There were a number of wobbly ducks that went back and forth. With some gentle encouragement, he finally started to accept the challenge and try harder.
After about ten minutes, the first clean spiral appeared.
It took a moment for him to realize what he had done. The smile and the joy running across his face was quite contagious.
Even though there were lots of terrible throws mixed in with a few good tosses, the point had been made.
No comments:
Post a Comment