The Leadership Japan Series By Dale Carnegie Training Japan

Dealing with Your Own Mistakes   We want people to fail!  That’s right, because we all know that we are the product today of all of our accumulated failures.  We have learnt what works and does not work by trying something, failing and then adjusting the way we do things.    American Basketball Coach John Wooden once said, "Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be." The obvious point he was trying to convey is that everyone makes mistakes and fails. It is what you do after the mistake or failure that makes all the difference.   This attitude to mistakes is particularly relevant here in Japan.  Errors are viewed very dimly in Japan.  In fact, the fear of making an error is so strong, that people are very cautious about anything new or unfamiliar, as the mistake incidence is likely to be higher.   If you grow up in Japan, you will have had this idea drummed into your head from an early age.  I encountered this when I was working with a visiting Japanese film crew, doing a shoot for a magazine imag