注：不久前一个亲戚小孩刚刚参加工作，总担心工作中犯错误，被同事嘲笑，为此十分担心，甚至晚上失眠。碰巧收到这封信的那天，我去出现了学校一次晚宴，晚宴上我们副校长爱里森·盖瑞特（Allison Garrett）博士给学生们发表的一番演讲说到了两个话题：不怕犯错，不怕不同。我们的教育总是强调追求卓越，追求完美，但是追求卓越和包容犯错，是硬币的两面。征得盖瑞特博士的同意，将此演讲分两次登出来，并略加翻译。

我是个犯错的老手。如天增岁月，日后还会犯更多错误。一天下来，一些小错总免不了。我有时候会打出一些搞笑的错别字来 —— 比如把筹款会（Donner party)写成晚宴（Dinner party)，二者字面上差之毫厘，意思相去千里。有些话明明说错，但出了口便再难收回，另外，囿于一天时间之限，一些该做的事情我没有去做。

多年下来，我的一大体会是犯错并无多大关系，关键是我们如何应对，如何从中得到长进。东北一所大学的校长说过一个故事，对如何应对错误可能有启迪：她去听过一次纽约交响乐团的音乐会。音乐会上，著名小提琴家演奏家艾萨克斯特恩在演奏第一首曲子第二乐章时，突然停止了演奏。其他乐器也逐个停下来，整个乐团的声音渐渐淡了下去。这位世界上最伟大的小提琴演奏家把小提琴从腮旁挪开，转身向观众说：“这样的演奏对这首曲子不公。对作曲家不公。另外，我的演奏也对在座各位不公。”接着，他转向乐队指挥说，“我们从头开始吧。” （1）

我们再来看一位职业运动员，一个貌似不会犯错的人。他曾称：“我的整个职业生涯中，投球未中达9000次。我输过300场比赛。曾经有26次，在一球定胜负的场合中，大家出于信任让我投球，而我没投中。我一辈子输了一次又一次，这就是我最终成功的奥秘。”（2）大家可能也已经猜到，上文引用的话来自有“灌篮王”之称的23号球员迈克尔·乔丹 ——或许是有史以来最杰出的职业篮球运动员。

我为沃尔玛工作了超过十年，此间多次听人说，“如果你没犯错误，或许你没有尝试任何新东西。”公司期望你去尝试新事物。当然，谁也不指望我重复犯同样错误，也不希望我去胡来。重要的是，我们愿意为了进步，而去有所不同。

我的一个朋友戴维瑞·杨拜德（Devery Youngblood)，最近写了一本书，叫《成功的失败》，书中记载了各样试验的失败。他写道： “试验失败，是因你愿意尝试新事物，而不过分为结果担心。这个过程是创造力和创新的关键。这种尝试，或许小到去尝未曾品尝过的菜，也可能大到写书。试验的失败可大可小，全看你胆大胆小。重要的是这个过程 —— 不断尝试、另辟蹊径、产生新结果。我们仅有尝试的意愿还不够，还要有尝试的迫切心情。我们得把目的搁置，去享受过程。有时试验失败意味着当初的探索，或许会以柳暗花明又一村的结果告终。

“试验失败的一个经典案例是家庭润滑剂WD -40的发明。该产品一开始是一帮极富创业精神的发明家要创造一种防锈用溶剂和除油剂，用于航空航天业，这个名字的由来，正是因为该产品的除水处方失败了39次。而今，每五户美国人家中，就有四家购有WD产品。”（3） 因此，尝试新事物没有错。托马斯·爱迪生曾称：“如果我发现了一万条行不通的路，那我就不算失败...每次被废弃的失误，都是前进的一个步骤。”

曾经有个故事 —— 真实性待考 ——在美国企管文献中常常出现：有个经理人犯过一次代价沉重的错误之后，去找CEO承认自己的错误，告白结束，这位经理人说：“估计您希望我主动辞职吧。”故事中的CEO回应说：“我刚花了十万美元培训你，我怎能让你就这么走人。”

我们都会犯错误。总统和副总统会犯错误。伟大的音乐家、科学家和专业运动员也犯错误。但我们必须承认我们的错误，从中吸取教训，继续前进。犯错不是罪行，不愿尝试新事物才是罪行。有时我们的错误会带来灵光一现的意外结果 —— 我们从错误当中得到学习，我们在探索一个产品时开发出新产品，或是我们在迷路当中，遇见新的朋友。

关于盖瑞特博士:

爱里森·盖瑞特（Allison Garrett）博士是俄克拉荷马基督教大学分管学术的高级副校长。加入本校前，她曾长期在业界就职，曾担任沃尔玛全球总部副总裁和总法律顾问。盖瑞特博士也是一位多次获奖的博客，其博客“国际公司治理”被诸多公司领导、学术人士和国际组织关注。

Making Mistakes

Guest Post by Dr. Allison Garrett

I have a lot of experience making mistakes. Given a few more years of life, I’m likely to make many more. Every day, I make my share of minor mistakes. I make typos that are humorous -- for example, in English there’s a one character difference between Donner party and dinner party, but the two couldn’t be more different. I say things that I wish I could “unspeak,” and I leave things undone because there aren’t enough hours in the day.

Through the years, I have learned that it’s ok to make mistakes; what’s important is how we handle them and what we learn from them. The president of a college in the northeast tells this story about handling mistakes.1 She attended a New York Philharmonic concert at which renowned violinist Isaac Stern was playing. In the middle of the second movement of the first piece, Stern just stopped playing. The orchestra’s sound petered out – instrument by instrument.

The world’s greatest violinist took the violin from his chin, turned to the audience and said “I am not doing this piece justice. I am not doing the composer justice. And, I am certainly not doing you, the audience, justice.” Then he turned to the conductor and said, “Let’s start this piece from the very beginning.”

Or think about this professional athlete, who sounds a bit mistake prone. He said, “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to make the game winning shot and missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”(2) Of course, I’m quoting “His Airness,” number 23, Michael Jordan, who is probably the best professional basketball player ever.

I worked for Walmart for more than a decade and I heard many times, “If you aren’t making mistakes, you probably aren’t trying anything new.” The company has an expectation that you will try new things. Of course, no one expected me to repeat the same mistake over and over or to try something new that is clearly crazy. The important thing, though, is to be willing to do something different for the sake of progress.

A friend of mine, Devery Youngblood, recently wrote the book, Successful Failure. In it, he talks about the failure of various experiments. He writes: “Experimental failure happens when you are willing to try new things and not be overly concerned with the results. This is the key to creativity and innovation. It could be as simple as trying some new food dish you have never had, or as complex as writing a book. Experimental failure is as big as you dare to make it. It is the process—the trying, the branching out, the new thing— that matters. It is not just our willingness, but our eagerness to experiment; to value the journey without regard for the destination. Sometimes experimental failure means that we set out to discover one thing only to end up at something totally unexpected.

“One of the more enduring examples of experimental failure is the development of the household lubricant WD-40. Originally an effort by its entrepreneurial inventors to create a line of rust-prevention solvents and degreasers for use in the aerospace industry, the very name is based on the fact that the “water displacement” formula failed the first thirty-nine times they tried it. Today, WD-40 can be found in 4 out of 5 American households.”3 So there is nothing wrong with trying new things. After all, Thomas Edison said “If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. . . . [E]very wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward.”

There’s a story – probably apocryphal – repeated many times in American business writings about a manager who made a costly mistake. He went to the CEO to confess his error. The manager ended his confession by saying, “I suppose you want my resignation.” According to the story, the CEO responded by saying “I just spent $10 million training you; there’s no way I would let you go now.”

We all make mistakes. Presidents and vice presidents make mistakes. Even great musicians, scientists and professional athletes make mistakes. But we must acknowledge our mistakes, learn from them, and move on. The crime isn’t in making the mistake, but in the failure to try something new. And sometimes our mistakes prove serendipitous – the learning gained from the mistake, the product developed in the search for another, or the new friend met when we get lost.

Notes:
(1) Karen Gross, Doctor of Humane Lettuce, Inside Higher Ed (June 3, 2008).

(2) See Youtube video.

(3)  Successful Failure, page 53.

About Dr. Garrett:　

Dr. Allison Garrett is the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Oklahoma Christian University (www.oc.edu). She spent many years in business, previously serving as the Vice President and General Counsel for Walmart’s Corporate Division. 　Dr. Garrett is also an award-winning blogger writing on topics related to International Corporate Governance (Dr. Garrett's blog).  Her blog is constant read and quoted by business leaders, scholars and leaders of international organizations.