I love children’s books. The good ones are straightforward and honest. Maurice Sendak is famous for his forthright approach to writing for children. In a Slate interview, Sendak said: “I refuse to lie to children,” he said. “I refuse to cater to the bullshit of innocence.”
There are few children’s authors that are that blunt in their approach to writing children’s literature. But, it is a hallmark of good children’s literature that the books that endure share an important truth of life with the readers.
One book that has stayed with me (literally, I still have it on my bookshelf) is Bernard Waber’s Nobody is Perfick. I had forgotten almost all of the content of the book until I reread it for this post. But the title alone has kept it with me through several cross-country moves.
This was the book that made me understand that adults are flawed. Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood and Sesame Street had taught me that people made mistakes. But in my mind, that message only referred to children and muppets. In retrospect, I am sure both shows crafted their message to include adults, but my child-brain missed the point completely.
Recently, I was asked to bid on a project for a largish contract house. During the initial phone screening I was asked if I would be willing to consider a full time, permanent job. I responded that I would be willing to consider it if it was for an organization that was a good cultural fit for me. After all, why would I want to give up running the show entirely for a place that I dreaded going to on a daily basis?
I don’t expect perfection from an organization, but I do expect a workplace that is a comfortable place to be. For me, one of the best tests of an organization’s culture is how people react to mistakes. Ver early on in my career, before I knew any better, I had a boss who simply blamed everything on me. If he forgot to return a call, it was because I didn’t give him the message. And it didn’t matter if the message was sitting on the top of one of the numerous piles on his desk.
I also worked in a place where mistakes were never forgotten. They followed your every move like a puppy seeking attention. Starting a new project? Don’t forget that you already made mistake XYZ, and we don’t want you to repeat it. The reminders just made everyone in the office insecure and uncomfortable.
When David and I set out to create an organizational culture at CubeSpace, we were very deliberate how we responded to mistakes. We encouraged people not to hide their mistakes. They happen and can often be useful if handled correctly. Was there something that could be learned from that mistake, a piece of wisdom to share with the rest of us? Document it. If not, acknowledge it, apologize if appropriate and then move on.
Speaking of mistakes, I managed to post this without remembering to include a title. Oops. At least that one was an easy fix.