Last Friday, I read the letter that Groupon CEO, Andrew Mason, wrote his staff about leaving the company. Basically, he admitted that he was fired and then went on to explain why. I thought that the letter was honest, revealing and took major guts. How many C-level executives, business owners or anyone in a higher up position ever admit they are wrong?
None I can name from personal experience. Usually one (or more) of the following things happens:
1. Blame the client
2. Blame the marketing
3. Blame the website
4. Attack one member of the company and blame them
5. Blame the economy
6. Blame the “changing landscape of social media”
7. Blame lack of funds
8. Blame the design/designer
9. Blame the investors
10. Blame the content
The list goes on and on from here. Rarely, does anyone admit out loud:
“Hey, maybe it’s me? Maybe it’s our product? We need to improve it. We can’t sell it as is. Maybe we need to stop being so focused on the product and start pleasing the customer? Maybe we need to work together better as a team? Maybe we need to embrace our young talent instead of leaving them out of the mix? Maybe we need to respect our elders and the unique ideas that they bring to the table. Maybe I don’t know it all, but that’s okay.”
Possibly, all of those things I just wrote stem from my personal experience and those of my millennial peers but they are just thoughts about how we you can possibly turn things around without blaming another person or being that might not even be part of the problem. Let’s be real with ourselves for a moment. You know when you mess up. In your mind, you know when it’s your own fault. For instance, just Sunday morning I was running late to church. I have no excuse: I woke up early, I was ready, I just conveniently forgot that I needed to stop for gas. That’s my fault. No one made me late. I knew that I needed gas on Friday. I can blame others, but that’s on me. Surely, the many problems that Groupon has are not Andrew Mason’s fault, but I think that it’s great to see a leader admit that he isn’t perfect and tell the truth. Incredibly rare, but great. Instead of pointing fingers, we all should work on self evaluation.
I love The Simpsons! Homer always makes mistakes, but I appreciate how he does occasionally own up by admitting his faults and apologizing.
Can you respect a person in a leadership role who blames all of their problems on other people, places and things?
