Ignore the rear view mirror

“Don’t look back….something might be gaining on you” Satchel Page

Woulda’, Coulda’, Shoulda’. Yes, those who ignore the lessons from history are destined to repeat them. You can also spend so much time looking back that you miss the ice cream stand you were looking for, or worse crash into a tree when you miss the turn.

When mistakes happen – and they will - it’s imperative you:

• Realize a mistake happened


• Quickly and thoughtfully deal with the mess


• Just as quickly and thoughtfully dissect the cause


• Adjust/train/coach accordingly to prevent another occurrence


• Get back to going forward

So much time and energy tends to be spent on anguishing about a mistake having been made. We grind through the cause, hunt down the culprit, punish the innocent and promote the guilty. It often becomes an exercise that resembles using a shotgun on a house fly.

I once worked for a great guy - Glen Chatfield - who always said, “unless someone has done some illegal, immoral, unethical or with intent to harm we have too much to do to spend time punishing”.

Good words from a good man.