The Hidden Ingredient of Progress

Nobody wants to feel like they messed up. It's like being caught with your hand in the cookie jar, right when you were enjoying the sweet taste of victory. We all dread that moment of embarrassment, when we're spotlighted for making a mistake. This fear makes us hesitant, it makes us overly cautious, and sometimes, it can even make us less truthful.

It’s a reaction, you might say, that's much worse than the problem itself.

Picture this: Mahatma Gandhi, the great leader, once shared his thoughts with a journalist. He said, “I am far from perfect. Before you leave, you will have discovered many of my flaws. If you don't, I'll point them out to you.” Why would he say something like that? Maybe because he knew that as a leader, thinking too highly of yourself can lead to danger and destruction. Maybe he was taking away the reporter's power to find his flaws first, by being upfront about them himself.

Remember the story of Epictetus, who laughed when someone pointed out his mistakes? He said, “That's not even the half of it. You could have pointed out even more.” It's not like Epictetus had dark secrets hiding, but rather, he had made himself immune to criticism by understanding his flaws better than anyone else–and by being more concerned about fixing them.

So why should we be afraid of criticism? As Marcus Aurelius said, if the criticism is right and we made a mistake, then the person pointing it out has actually helped us. If they're wrong, who cares? More importantly, if we're doing our job well, we should already be aware of the problem and working on a solution. We're not perfect and we're not beyond feedback. Nor should we be so fragile that we can't handle disagreement or being disliked.

You see, the secret sauce to progress is in our mistakes. They are opportunities to learn, to grow, and to become better leaders. Let's not shy away from our imperfections but rather, let's embrace them, let's learn from them. After all, the best leaders aren't the ones who never make mistakes. They're the ones who aren't afraid to make them, to admit them, and most importantly, to fix them.