*A-Class Business - LESSON LEARNT* _____________________________________ My biggest mistake of 2014 & what Ive learnt _____________________________________ Every one of us have made mistakes both personally and professionally. Whether we admit it or not, in reality we make mistakes on a daily basis. How we analyze, learn from and leverage them to grow as human beings is what ultimately matters. Most people, myself included, often refuse to accept our flaws and take criticism well, which can lead to accelerated conflict and potentially damage meaningful relationships. Often lack of paying to detail can lead to actions performed with the best intentions, but are actually detrimental. Big Mistake With Best Intentions In my excitement of meeting a very influential businessman, who could be of tremendous long term value for a venture Im associated with, I misunderstood a very simple but direct statement of Its all handled. In my exuberance for potentially building a relationship with this person of influence, I didnt see any harm in spreading the word about this connection and following up with him. Turns out, there were several things I was unaware of which had come up THAT DAY. This changed what could be talked about publicly and could potentially mess up a multi-million dollar deal. Because of an NDA I cant dive into all the details about my big mistake, but lets just say that I significantly angered someone I both do business with and consider a personal mentor. Just by not paying enough attention. Reaction To Criticism We had a rather strong conversation that day which caught me by surprise. Everything from you never listen to we might be done doing business. As you can imagine, I was rather stunned at the reaction. From my initial perspective, connecting with someone who is a major decision maker - sits on the board of 7 publicly traded companies and a big deal internationally - could only be a positive endeavor, not a negative one. This immediately put me on the defensive and made my anger start to rise. As the reasons for why I had made a mistake were outlined, I quickly understood the mistake but not the level of exasperation. In the heat of the moment I was both argumentative and flabbergasted. Another big mistake. So, what have I learned from all this? -Importance Of Subjugating Ego- In hindsight, I should not have let my temper flare. I should have realized that someone I greatly respect would not have barraged me without justification. Turns out my mistake had caused significant confrontation with other parties involved, and I later learned the level of potential problems for the entire deal which could arise. -Analyze Their Perspective- Its very natural for us to only view things through our personal prism, and therefore become defensive. This results in shutting out criticism, which leads to being viewed as someone who doesnt listen. I consciously had to look at things from his perspective. What would my reaction have been now that I knew all the facts? When looking at it through a different lens, given the size of the deal and the potential ramifications of my actions, it was not difficult to understand the anger and frustration. -Admit Your Mistake And Be Humble- Once I suppressed my ego, analyzed the situation, and accepted my mistake it was time for the hard part. Be truly humble and admit my flaw. I spent two hours writing an email expressing my apology and making things right. Ironically, through this process I noticed things about this situation which had led to counseling sessions with my own employees in the past. Mistakes they had made were ones I had made now. Except I had no excuse given my own experience. In the long run, there is no point in refusing to accept failures or admit mistakes, especially when they are to people you truly admire and want to emulate. Even if you will have to spend time recovering trust or even in some cases respect. -Creating Good Out Of Bad- The vast majority of these people of character will appreciate your willingness to learn from mistakes, open apology and asking forgiveness. It is highly probable they have had similar instances in their lives, and will give you another chance. If anything, you may be able to use these kinds of situations to create an even stronger bond by showing humility and asking for help. End of story. What Do You Think? Maybe Im wrong in the entire thing, but I wager this will speak to more than a few people out there, on both sides of the equation. P.s Entire Situation Resolved.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 06:44:39 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015