The tenth Leadership Principle of the Amazon Way is:
Vocally Self Critical
Leaders do not believe their or their team’s body odor smells of perfume. Leaders come forward with problems or information, even when doing so is awkward or embarrassing. Leaders benchmark themselves and their teams against the best.
Have you been tempted to cover up mistakes and bad news? It’s tempting to give the appearance that you or your team are progressing more quickly than you actually are, especially when reporting to upper management. It’s tempting to remain quiet while others are telling a rosy story or making promises that are nicer than reality.
As leaders, we should speak up and make sure the truth is heard even though we risk making our team (or ourselves) look bad. When you tell the truth despite its social repercussions, you encourage others to give you honest feedback and many times pre-empt the need for others to criticize you.
Mistakes are steps towards your success if you learn from them and improve yourself.
Funny, this was replaced by Learn and Be Curious. Not quite the same but ok Amazon.Â
This goes perfectly in line with the idea of owning one’s mistakes instead of denying them. Owning your mistakes means you learn from them and grow, denying your mistakes means you believe you have nothing else to learn and have grown as much as you can.
Don’t limit yourself, let yourself grow and become greater. Own your mistakes.