A recent story over on The Drive brought to mind again one of the things I’m trying to inculcate in my kids.
The story centers around USAF Colonel Derek “Maestro” O’Malley, currently the Wing Commander of the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw Air Force Base. You see, when the Colonel was a younger pilot on deployment in South Korea, he created and stared in a hilarious, but also rather bawdy video about the use of Gold Bond powder in helping keep things… um… dry.
This could have been a career killer. For many people, a piece of poor judgement like this absolutely becomes a black mark that follows them around. But Colonel O’Malley had a good commander, who gave him the chance to learn from his mistake. Learn he did, taking full ownership of what he did, working hard to show that he wasn’t “that guy”, and eventually moving through the ranks to his current position.
In particular it’s a marked contrast to someone like Anita Carcone, and some of the other cheaters caught my Marathon Investigations, who double down on their lies and excuses rather than own up and move forward.
Everyone messes up from time to time. It’s why I have a drawer of Maxim 70 coins, one for each of my kids when they eventually “earn” one. If I ever end up in the management track, I’ll likely have a few more of these coins at work, to eventually give out to people on my team.
“Maxim 70: Failure is not an option. It is mandatory. The option is whether or not to let failure be the last thing you do.”