Synopsis
Kristen Hadeed’s “Permission to Screw Up” describes her leadership development. Beginning from not knowing what it is to creating an organization where leaders can thrive. Her story provides an honest accounting of mistakes, missteps, and relationships that will make you laugh and relate. They are her personal accounts.
In her book, she describes a moment when her entire staff walked out on her in the middle of a large project. She reflects on her actions and inactions and what led to their abandonment. This was her first realization was that leadership is more than just sitting back and letting others do it all. Managers…give orders, not ownership. She also provides examples of empathy and how relationships develop in a business. These relationships also show the balance of personalities between leaders.
Just My Thoughts
This is not a self-help leadership book. However, it is a good reminder about the basics of leadership. Kristen Hadeed provides an authentic and relatable story about the struggles of developing as a leader. She takes accountability for her actions and argues that she learned by making mistakes.
I would argue that many of us experienced some hard lessons. Because her book is relatable, it was easy to laugh at some of her shared experiences. I also cringed a few times because I remember making similar mistakes.
I absolutely recommend this book for a few reasons:
- It is a reminder of the very basics of leadership to each of us, young and old.
- It is an excellent example of self-reflection that I hope we each do daily.
- For those that you may be mentoring and coaching, it may be an excellent example for them to see that no one is perfect.
Giving people room to make mistakes doesn’t mean excusing bad behavior, ignoring poor decisions, or avoiding the feedback they need to hear to be better.