Permission to Screw Up: How I Learned to Lead by Doing (Almost) Everything Wrong
Kristen Hadeed started her business, the cleaning service now called Student Maid, by accident. She stumbled through mistakes that should have cost her everything, but didn’t. Her management style is something like, “Lets do this!” Followed by “Oh crap, that wasn’t supposed to happen.” Then a lot of stumbling around trying to find the answer. Most of the time she lands on her feet. Her accounts of missteps are sometimes comical, sometimes heartbreaking.
The book is more than a retelling of organizational missteps. It’s a story of personal and professional growth that gives us permission to make big, bold mistakes. It’s also a lesson in the little things, like respect and wanting the best for others.
It’s a refreshing change from all the three steps to this, and seven laws of that genre. Eventually the lessons are the ones we learned in on the playground. Treat people the way you want to be treated. Own up to your mistakes. Apologize. Adjust. Move on.
You don’t need to be in the cleaning business for work to get messy. But Kristen doesn’t leave us there, standing forlorn by a half-cleaned moldy refrigerator. Instead, she brings us along the journey, finding ways to make corrections and improvements, and move toward a more healthy organization.
You don’t have to know what you’re doing. You just have to be humble enough to listen and willing to put in the work to grow.
Find Permission to Screw Up
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Photo by Bernard Hermant on Unsplash