𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆, 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆

I was listening to a podcast with Gordon Ramsay and he was reflecting on what shaped his thinking as a chef and a leader. He was so passionate about making mistakes, having them called out, and how much he grew from being able to put aside his ego and just learn.

He shared an insight that stayed with me: 'Take it professionally, don't take it personally.' We all make mistakes, and we should make mistakes — otherwise we are playing it safe and missing the chance to be creative and find new opportunities.

𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲.

It's so important we recognise this. The moment we let our ego or our pride take us into defensiveness, we're creating barriers to learning and personal growth.

As leaders, being vulnerable and sharing how a mistake has shaped you — and more importantly how you responded to it — is more important than sharing your successes.

Here's mine.

I spent my career leading some of the best people and teams in Research and Development. Once I was asked what my biggest mistake was and how I dealt with it. I reflected on a promising but costly collaboration that didn't deliver. My mistake was extending the program, seduced by the promise of a breakthrough that never came.

After we exited the collaboration, we reviewed our decision-making process and realised we hadn't tested our assumptions against the evidence — and had missed that a critical one was flawed.

My learning was that I was over-invested, and my ego had clouded my objectivity.

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵?

Helping people take it professionally, not personally, will create value for them long beyond that moment.

When did you last catch yourself taking something personally that you could have taken professionally instead?