A Leader Should Know How to Manage Failure

Former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam : 'A Leader Should Know How to Manage Failure'

India Knowledge Wharton: Could you give an example, from your own experience, of how leaders should manage failure?

Kalam: Let me tell you about my experience. In 1973 I became the project director of India's satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3. Our goal was to put India's "Rohini" satellite into orbit by 1980. I was given funds and human resources -- but was told clearly that by 1980 we had to launch the satellite into space. Thousands of people worked together in scientific and technical teams towards that goal.

By 1979 -- I think the month was August -- we thought we were ready. As the project director, I went to the control center for the launch. At four minutes before the satellite launch, the computer began to go through the checklist of items that needed to be checked. One minute later, the computer program put the launch on hold; the display showed that some control components were not in order.

My experts -- I had four or five of them with me -- told me not to worry; they had done their calculations and there was enough reserve fuel. So I bypassed the computer, switched to manual mode, and launched the rocket. In the first stage, everything worked fine. In the second stage, a problem developed. Instead of the satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket system plunged into the Bay of Bengal. It was a big failure.

That day, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, Prof. Satish Dhawan, had called a press conference. The launch was at 7:00 am, and the press conference -- where journalists from around the world were present -- was at 7:45 am at ISRO's satellite launch range in Sriharikota [in Andhra Pradesh in southern India]. Prof. Dhawan, the leader of the organization, conducted the press conference himself. He took responsibility for the failure -- he said that the team had worked very hard, but that it needed more technological support. He assured the media that in another year, the team would definitely succeed. Now, I was the project director, and it was my failure, but instead, he took responsibility for the failure as chairman of the organization.

The next year, in July 1980, we tried again to launch the satellite -- and this time we succeeded. The whole nation was jubilant. Again, there was a press conference. Prof. Dhawan called me aside and told me, "You conduct the press conference today."

I learned a very important lesson that day. When failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team. The best management lesson I have learned did not come to me from reading a book; it came from that experience.

article shared on text mails

.

Burdens in life...

One morning I wasted nearly an hour watching a tiny ant carry a huge feather cross my back terrace. Several times it was confronted by obstacles in its path and after a momentary pause it would make the necessary detour.

At one point the ant had to negotiate a crack in the concrete about 10mm wide. After brief contemplation the ant laid the feather over the crack, walked across it and picked up the feather on the other side then continued on its way.

I was fascinated by the ingenuity of this ant, one of God’s smallest creatures. It served to reinforce the miracle of creation. Here was a minute insect, lacking in size yet equipped with a brain to reason, explore, discover and overcome. But this ant, like the two-legged co-residents of this planet, also share human failings.

After some time the ant finally reached its destination - a flower bed at the end of the terrace and a small hole that was the entrance to its underground home. And it was here that the ant finally met its match. How could that large feather possibly fit down small hole? Of course it couldn’t. so the ant, after all this trouble and execising great ingenuity, overcoming problems all along the way, just abandoned the feather and went home.

The ant had not thought the problem through before it began its epic journey and in the end the feather was nothing more than a burden. Isn’t life like that!

We worry about our family, we worry about money or the lack of it, we worry about work, about where we live, about all sorts of things. These are all burdens - the things we pick up along life’s path and lug them around the obstacles and over the crevasses that life will bring, only to find that at the destination they are useless and we can’t take them with us.....

from mail archives

Attitude is a decision

Jerry is the manager of a restaurant.He is always in a good mood.When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would always reply: 'If I were any better, I would be twins!'

Many of the waiters at his restaurant quit their jobs when he changed jobs, so they could follow him around from restaurant to restaurant.Why? Because Jerry was a natural motivator.

If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was always there, telling him how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him:
'I don't get it! No one can be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?'

Jerry replied,'Each morning I wake up and say to myself, I have two choices today. I can choose to be in a good mood or I can choose to be in a bad mood.I always choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be victim or I can choose to learn from it. I always choose to learn from it.'

*****
Several years later...
I heard that Jerry accidentally did something you are never supposed to do in the restaurant business. He left the back door of his restaurant open.

And then in the morning, he was robbed by three armed men. While Jerry trying to open the safe box, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him.
Luckily, Jerry was found quickly and rushed to the hospital.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident.

When I asked him how he was, he replied, 'If I were any better, I'd be twins. Want to see my scars?'
I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place.

'The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door,' Jerry replied. 'Then, after they shot me, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or could choose to die. I chose to live.'

Jerry continued,'The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine.
But when they wheeled me into the Emergency Room and I saw the expression on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared.In their eyes, I read 'He's a dead man'.

I knew I needed to take action.'What did you do?' I asked.

'Well, there was a big nurse shouting questions at me,' said Jerry.'She asked if I was allergic to anything.'

'Yes,' to bullets, I replied. Over their laughter, I told them:'I am choosing to live. Please operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.'

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude.I learned from him that every day you have the choice to either enjoy your life or to hate it. The only thing that is truly yours that no one can control or take from you is your attitude,so if you can take care of that, everything else in life becomes much easier.

Every day we wake up with two options to spend the day: Happy and Joyful ;Worried and Fearful.Its upto us to make the right choice

- shared on text mail

Teacher...

"Teacher : The child's third parent." says Hyman Berston

I wish to share a good article written by a teacher.

Has teaching changed the way I think? Yes, most certainly. My students have shown me how to manage time. I marvel at how deftly they juggle sports, academics, dance, theatre and pottery, for instance. I have learnt how to accept failure as i see my students taking success and failure with equanimity. I admire the confidence of my students who can go up on stage and speak extempore. I see them contesting an election, lose it, and yet work with the winner for the common good.

I have observed students working in teams, giving suggestions, disagreeing politely, coming to a consensus even if it means giving up one's original idea. They go ahead, never claiming: "That was my idea". I see them sharing everything - their history notes and lab coats, their problems and joys, their ice creams and food, with such ease. It is wonderful the way they appreciate their classmates' talents. If you ask them "Who do you think should be given this task?" you can be sure they will pick the most suitable person. Their loyalty to friends disconcerts me at times. Will their selflessness last as they grow into adults?

Students are so good at solving problems creatively. The other day as I was walking out of the school gate, if saw something interesting. One girl, recently elected senior-most student leader, was motivating her fellow students with an amusing game - to amazing response. When I questioned her she told me it was an activity to energise them so that they could put in their best for the forthcoming Teacher's Day function. How innovative!

My students have often shown me how to keep cool during a crisis, with a "Don't worry Ma'am, it can be done!" I am often amazed at their openness, at their ability to think critically, accept reasoned answers. What has struck me most is their daring - to chart unknown territories, to be constantly redefining rules, unafraid to be original.

My students make me think constantly. Last week I told my class, "In these 10 years of teaching from this book, no one has asked me this question!" I have to be always ready for surprises. I know they are not testing me - though they do, sometimes. They ask such basic questions that it stumps me.

I have taken so many things for granted. Students remind me that my learning is not complete and never will be. Above all, my students have taught me to be young, to never grow old. I have to be up-to-date in everything, in order to keep up with them.

For the article click here

"To teach is to touch lives forever." - Anonymous