The Value of Failure: Why Experience Matters in Management
I used to get ticked off at job postings for managers that required 10 or more years of experience. I used to think that the manager title I had held for a year qualified me for the job and that the 10 years of experience the job posting required was excessive; I knew how to be a leader.
What I’ve learned is that I’ve…well…learned.
The purpose of requiring 10 or more years of experience isn’t to ensure that the candidate has the requisite expertise, but rather that the candidate has learned from failure; that the candidate has tried, failed, learned, and tried again. In other words, requiring experience helps ensure that candidates have already made all the rookie mistakes and learned from them.
There is simply no substitute for failing spectacularly and learning from it. Every manager can share the story of the epic failure that absolutely destroyed them at the time but now, looking back, is tragically hysterical.
It took me many years….but I get it now. I’ll gladly give new managers a minor role and the opportunity to fail and then learn from their mistakes. Once they’ve failed and learned a few times, I’ll give them a major role.
Some say there is no substitution for experience. I say there is no substitution for learning from failures.