If you’ve ever attended one of my talks and heard all of my bad boss stories, you can I’m sure relate to them. You’ve not lived until you’ve had a bad boss. The key though is what did you LEARN from that bad boss.
In my stories, I mention, by name, Dr. Riley, Dr. Backer, Capt. Davies, and of course Cruella (If you’ve not heard these stories, I’ll be sure to video my next talk and let you hear all about them). What I don’t talk about is the nearly 90 years of combined managerial experience they had.
But experience doesn’t always equate to success.
I wonder what would happen if a person reflected each time they screwed something up? Simple questions like:
- What happened?
- What did I do to screw it up?
- What did I learn?
- How can I prevent it from happening again?
Those simple questions might have changed Dr. Backer from a cheap dentist with questionable infection controls standards into a leader in his community. It might have made Dr. Backer realize how wrong it was to kick me in the shins when I handed him the wrong dental instrument and instead make him a better teacher and developer of talent.
You see, what comes from honestly answering those questions and applying what you learned is this really important thing called WISDOM. Doing the WISE thing might even be better than doing the RIGHT thing. Wisdom is an insight that goes beyond simple decision-making. It’s a look down the line at impact. As The BOSS, I’d say it’s an important thing to master.
So this week, begin measuring your experience at using WISDOM rather than EXPERIENCE as your measure of excellence. Your people will appreciate it. Maybe your Boss will too!
