Lately, I often remember the early days when I started working, 28 years ago.
I remember the people who trained me. They never hid appointments, discussions, or information from me. They were there, open and willing to share what they knew, without fear or insecurity that I might “take their clients.”
Above all, however, they gave me something invaluable: room to make mistakes.
They let me move forward and take initiative, knowing that if something went wrong, we would fix it together. I learned that it’s not about not making mistakes, but how you handle them. How you face them. How you take responsibility.
And that’s how I was trained. I made mistakes. Many. But with each one, someone was there for me, saying: 👉 “Let’s see what went wrong and how we can do better next time.”
And that’s how I learned firsthand what they say: “Only those who do nothing make no mistakes.”
Today, as an evaluator of young professionals and as I train my new colleague, I realize that what was once taken for granted now seems strange. “Go ahead, do things, and if something goes wrong, we’re here to fix it” seems to be the exception rather than the rule.
I don’t know if this practice is right or wrong. But I do know that it creates emotional anchors. It gives people confidence and tools that they will use throughout their lives, regardless of their job.
Because we have made mistakes, we make them now, and we will continue to make them.
But the questions are different: Do we learn from them? How much do we avoid doing things so that we don’t have to deal with a mistake? Do we want partners who take initiative or fearful people who simply follow instructions?
