This article is from INTUITION by Dr. R. Buckminister Fuller, pages 91 – 100.
Tag: Mistakes
Courtesy of curejoy.com
Like them, love them, or hate them, we all have parents and the relationship we have with our parents or caregivers set the tone for all our relationships in life.
Conscious Parenting is about understanding that what you do and how you do it has a lasting impact on your children. Understand how even small things can have a lasting positive or adverse impact allows you to make conscious choices.
The alternative is to default to the way you were raised by your parents, which may or may not have been deliberate, decisive, or useful!
Most people go through life with no clue that what happened to them as children had a lasting impact on them. We are not suggesting that you blame your parents for everything wrong with your life. Assume they did the best they knew how and take it from there to make better choices for yourself.
Many of today’s leaders are operating from an old leadership model that could be described as “leadership through domination.” This style stifles creativity and inhibits innovation.
It is impossible to think of new ideas that defy old ways of doing things if we are afraid of making mistakes and are constantly worried about the real or perceived threat from a leader whose style is based on autocracy, coercion and punishment.
Creative and innovative people require creative and innovative workplaces that are fluid, flexible, fun, nurturing, supportive and enjoyable. No longer is economic success dependent on natural resources, manufacturing excellence, and scientific or technological prowess. Today, the terms of success revolve around an organization’s ability to mobilize, attract and retain creative human talent. Every competitive dimension depends on creativity and ingenuity of the people that make up the organization.
Leading a team of creative talent is very different from leading a factory line of workers who do similar tasks repetitively. It simply does not work to command creativity! Can you imagine Mozart or Picasso being told to produce or else, “You are out!” Leadership in the creative economy requires vastly different skills.
Today’s new model of leadership involves partnership, cooperation and team.
One of the biggest blocks to most people stepping into personal leadership and responsibility is that they are so afraid of making mistakes that they won’t take the risk of being responsible and accountable at the same time. Most people inaccurately see responsibility as another way of laying “blame” – or finding who is “at fault” when things go wrong. Combine this with the fear of losing face, and you have people who won’t speak up – even though they know the solution!
Encouraging people to speak up requires building trust and safety. Before people will take the risk of speaking up, they need to know that they won’t be punished for expressing themselves and stating their opinions.
“Recently, I was asked if I was going to fire an employee who made a mistake that cost the company $600,000. ‘No,’ I replied, ‘I just spent $600,000 training him. Why would I want somebody to hire his experience?’ “
– Thomas J. Watson, Founder of IBM