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.
He who wishes to teach us a truth should not tell it to us, but simply suggest it with a brief gesture, a gesture which starts an ideal trajectory in the air along which we glide until we find ourselves at the feet of the new truth.
All I hope, selfishly, is that there will be real books until the day I draw my last breath.
Since I began presenting programmes about black history my life has become a constant impromptu focus group. I am stopped in the street by people who want to talk about the histories those documentaries explore.
Write a lot and hit the streets. A writer who doesn't keep up with what's out there ain't gonna be out there.
After your first job, is anyone asking you what your GPA was? No, they don't care. They ask you: Are you a good leader? Do people follow you? Do you have integrity? Are you innovative? Do you solve problems? Somebody's got to do that homework and redesign the educational system so that it can actually train people to be successful in life.
Writing/reading is like visiting another person's brain. And a short book or article is like a short stay. You come in, have a coffee, talk about the weather or sports, and then move on.
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