“If you win you need not explain…
But if you lose you should not be there to explain”
-Adolph Hitler
………….. 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. Prof. Dhawan, the leader of the organization, conducted the press conference himself. He took responsibility for the failure……… 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. 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.
- Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
Which one do you like to follow?
- Easo Thomas