Are You Brave Enough to be Wrong?

Too many fears: “Don’t admit that.” “People will think less of me.” “If I tell them bad news will be fired.”

We have put too much money or effort into that to quit. Accounting calls that sunk costs. Despite the testing or product failures business carries on.

There is too much new information and even more distractions. Daily news prioritizes bad news to monopolize attention. Scaring people gets eyeballs. We spent time on the recent instead of the important.

Our brain is lazy and saves energy where possible. May not know we were wrong. We have scripts: “Already looked at that.” It takes energy to think deeply. See “Thinking Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman.

Slow down and look at feedback. Don’t rush to next item. What is important or valuable here? Are the results going as expected? Why not? What are customers saying? What are the competitors doing? What problems are manufacturing having? Why are we having rework? Dig into design and marketing if necessary.

Lean Startup prioritizes making a minimal viable product to test. “Build, Measure, Learn.” Interactions with customers are accelerated. Designs iterate quickly. Business models are modified and improved to succeed. 

Manger at standup meeting questioned a project due date. A few people disagreed starting discussing. Showed Donnie written notes had with that date. His reaction, “Never mind Steve showed me that date written down.” Donnie did not waste time or effort about being wrong. He moved on.

We are all human and make mistakes. Don’t stay stuck in yours. Admit, apologize if necessary, and move on. 

“Those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.” - George Santayana, philosopher, poet, writer