How Learning Can Lead to Success

On the surface, it seems as if the passage is taking us in one of two directions: toward success or failure. We mishandle a major assignment and move toward failure; we receive our first leadership role and move toward success. In reality, it may seem as though we’re going in one direction but we’re actually going in the other. Mishandling an assignment can cause us to reflect, to seek advice about why our leadership approach caused us to make a blunder. The knowledge gained turns us into a better leader. Conversely, we take on our first leadership role and make it work; our simple win makes us think we know enough; our arrogance prevents us from asking questions, being open to new ideas, and growing even more within the new role.

Failing to Learn: Molly

Molly, for instance, worked for a Silicon Valley firm as a software designer. A Stanford engineering graduate who was a strong individual contributor, she was quickly identified as a rising star and soon promoted to manager. In any first leadership role, there’s a lot to learn—setting objectives, giving feedback, valuing the managerial role rather than the role of an individual contributor. It was a big job for someone as young as Molly, but she threw herself into the technical problems her group faced. She was eager to prove herself, and she worked with great energy seven days a week and helped her project team overcome serious technological roadblocks. Molly received much praise and soon was promoted again.

In her new leadership role, however, Molly was stretched too thin. Her technical skill and hard work could only take her so far. The demands of the job required her to delegate and to motivate—two skills that Molly had not mastered. And she had never learned how to build and lead a team; she had succeeded in her previous managerial role through sheer technical brilliance. Now brilliance wasn’t enough. She ended up driving herself and her team to the point that they burned out. One direct report quit; two others complained to Molly’s boss that they were spinning their wheels, and Molly herself became distant and uncommunicative. Within eight months of this second promotion, Molly was fired. Even worse, she had learned little about herself or her weaknesses, preferring to believe that bad luck and an unappreciative management team were responsible for her demise.

Moving Toward Success: Gordon

Like Molly, Gordon had a strong technical background. Employed by an aerospace firm as an engineer, he was leading a research group working on composite materials to be used in aircraft. When his firm received an RFP to develop a composite-material wing for military aircraft, Gordon helped craft the proposal that resulted in a $1 billion assignment. Gordon was put in charge of the design team, and it was a tremendous opportunity for him; it was also the first time he had ever managed such a large project.

From the beginning, the project seemed doomed. Gordon had a terrible time staffing the project properly and getting the resources necessary from other parts of his firm. They fell behind schedule, and though Gordon worked frantically to salvage it, he couldn’t do so. His firm lost millions of dollars on the failed effort, and Gordon bore the brunt of the failure. Not only did he feel like everyone in the firm blamed him for what went wrong, but local media gave such extensive coverage to the problems experienced by Gordon’s firm that even Gordon’s kids were taunted at school. Gordon wasn’t fired, but he was moved out of the firm’s main building into a small office nearby and given a minor project to work on.

At first, Gordon was furious with management and his colleagues. For several weeks, he was angry that he was given the lion’s share of the blame when, in fact, it was a group failure. He thought about resigning or looking for another job. Then he decided to shift his focus. He reflected on his shortcomings as a leader and how they had contributed to the failure. He also wrote up his observations about what went wrong and shared them with others in the company. People were surprised at how insightful they were, both from management and technical perspectives.

After about a year, Gordon moved back into the main building, receiving a new assignment in part because he’d maintained a core group of supporters. Gordon didn’t allow his anger to spill out and damage important relationships. After he had calmed down, he realized that he really didn’t have much to be angry about. Gordon soon began giving presentations to other project managers in the firm about lessons that could be learned from his failure. A few years later, Gordon’s firm received a contract to build a composite tail for a commercial airliner. Gordon’s supervisor recommended him as a project leader, and this time the project came off without a hitch.