You will never stub your toe standing still. The faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere.
Charles KetteringRead
The biggest job we have is to teach a newly hired employee how to fail intelligently. We have to train him to experiment over and over and to keep on trying and failing until he learns what will work.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of teaching new employees to embrace failure as a part of the learning process.
In this quote, Charles Kettering highlights the crucial responsibility of leaders and educators to instill in new employees a mindset that views failure not as a setback, but as a valuable opportunity for growth and understanding. By encouraging experimentation and resilience, organizations can foster an environment where innovation thrives and individuals learn from their mistakes, ultimately leading to greater success.
In practice
In a team meeting, I shared this quote to encourage everyone to take risks and embrace potential failures.
You will never stub your toe standing still. The faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere.
It is the 'follow through' that makes the great difference between ultimate success and failure, because it is so easy to stop.
When I was research head of General Motors and wanted a problem solved, I'd place a table outside the meeting room with a sign: "Leave slide rules here." If I didn't do that, I'd find someone reaching for his slide rule. Then he'd be on his feet saying, "Boss, you can't do it."
A research problem is not solved by apparatus; it is solved in a man's head.
My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.
I often say that research is a way of finding out what you are going to do when you can't keep on doing what you are doing now.
The youth need to be enabled to become job generators from job seekers.
Research shows that whether you are low-income or not, mindset is a bigger predictor of success than academic skills, and how students gain great academic skills and persevere in the face of challenges.
Usually kids who are talented have the brashness to think they can do anything, but they don't often get the chance to see how close they can come.
As always, a lot of bad books will be published. Some good books will be published, and you have to seek them out.
My childhood was surrounded by books and writing. From a very early age I was fascinated by storytelling, by the printed word, by language, by ideas. So I would seek them out.
Today, in every wave of every ocean, I see our children playing and dancing. Today, in every plant, tree, and mountain, I see our children growing in freedom.
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