tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9034270259594099137.post4866014903373880416..comments2024-03-04T16:19:45.463+00:00Comments on Andrew Scott : Blogging about failureAndrew Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07301528057545879033noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9034270259594099137.post-31337537237350310882013-10-28T08:58:44.168+00:002013-10-28T08:58:44.168+00:00Thanks for the interesting comment. 'Telling p...Thanks for the interesting comment. 'Telling people they have made mistakes' is a risky strategy. My preferred approach is helping people to realise they have made mistakes... But sometimes one does indeed have to tell, and the response can be interesting. But to do so several times in an interview strikes me as both brave and high- risk! If those were the qualities they were looking for, they should certainly have appointed you.Andrew Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07301528057545879033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9034270259594099137.post-43803037287682590962013-10-27T17:59:29.286+00:002013-10-27T17:59:29.286+00:00Thanks for the plug Andrew. You are very kind.
As...Thanks for the plug Andrew. You are very kind.<br /><br />As you know I certainly have more than enough failures to be able to share a few. However, I think I will take the opportunity to make a slightly different point. You write about using your own failure to learn about mistakes that you do not want to repeat in the future. I think it is important also to learn from successes and to use both successes and failures to learn both about mistakes that we don't want to repeat and about clever actions that we do want to repeat.<br /><br />One difficulty that arises is that an action that is a mistake in one circumstance can be a good thing to do in another. For example, if Paul had been a little bit less dishonest, your price-cutting strategy might have opened the way to future business with him. I say this because it is relevant to a mistake that I make frequently, which is to assume that someone that I am talking to thinks like I do. <br /><br />A case that keeps cropping up during my career is about telling people that they have made mistakes. I am always pleased to have my mistakes corrected. Basically, I would much rather have the opportunity to correct the mistake and be right tomorrow than not to know about the mistake and believe that I am right today. Many times in my career this has led me to make the mistake of correcting my 'superiors', thinking that it would earn their respect. Once I did it several times, to different members of the appointing committee, during an interview for a lectureship at Oxford University. I thought it would make them all think "wow - he's smart, we should give him the job". I never found out what they thought. They didn't give me the job!<br />Andrew Derringtonhttp://parkerderrington.comnoreply@blogger.com