A winning strategy for mistake-making - an interview.

Lynn Kraus. Senior Project Manager/International Projects for a 30+ Billion Company.

Lynn’s stats. Age: 59, Race: Caucasian, Pronouns: She/her

Lynn: “I have an associates degree in advertising and design from a very long time ago.

“Over the course of [my] career path I fell into another area, more on the production side of graphic arts, which was super abstract. How do you take a design and get it into production to actually print it on something?

“I had been looking for work and I couldn’t find work in [graphic design], and somebody pushed me and said ‘Go over here, go look at this, and I was like, ‘wow, that is cool,’ and all of a sudden something I didn’t know I was even interested in I was just completely interested in. I wanted to know everything about it. It fascinated me; [printing] is very abstract, very technical, but also requires problem solving, and you know, experience which I didn’t have.

“I didn't have any experience so I made a lot of mistakes, but [the work] was just fascinating, and it just took me down this road. The more I learned, the more I realized there was way more to learn and that really fueled me.  I just pursued that type of interest because [it] got me up in the morning. I was like, ‘I'm ready to go. This is great.’ 

Eva: “You know, let me just say something here Lynn, because I actually think this is one of the key ways we understand what is authentic to who we are, when we do something and it gives us energy, lights us up. And it's something that we want to keep doing. Right? You knew intuitively, ‘hey I'm going this way, sorry, despite what [you trained in]. This resonates with who I am.”

Lynn: “Yeah and I've made a lot of mistakes. I mean, I didn't know what I didn't know, but I had a lot of personal drive to go and learn it because it was very interesting to me.

“So I kind of BS’ed my way into it, like ‘I'm confident, I can do this if you give me the chance,’ right?.

Eva: “Yeah but let me say something here, because this is where a lot of women fall off the tracks. Because the truth is, anytime we go for something that's different, or new, that’s [something] more, or more in keeping with what we want but we haven't done it yet - this [kind of thing] happens. It's like ‘oh my god’ because you make a lot of mistakes. You don't know what you're doing.

“What is it in you that allowed you to not be taken down by these internal voices and fears, to keep going? What was it?” 

Lynn: “Well I think, I think about a lot of things. In general you know [when] you’re a baby, and you can’t walk, you can't speak; you’re conscious, but there's a lot you can't do. But that doesn't mean you're not going to be able to in time, with effort and with others teaching you, showing you, you observing, whatever it may be.

“But you're gonna fall down, and that's just the way it is. And everybody's like that. So I always came at it from a perspective that, you know, my very real opportunity to fail is shared. It’s not unique to me. You know, everybody’s gonna fail. If you’re gonna do something new, you’re not gonna get it right the first time, second time, third time, fifth time.

“You know, now the light bulb might go on at some point to say, you know, for some reason this is not my core strength. But something over here is, and I like this thing, I'm gonna go do that instead of trying to swim upstream. I suppose like you know, what the universe is telling you. For whatever reason this is just not your thing, you’re better over here, GO THIS WAY.

“And you know I listen to that. I'm like, yeah you know I'd love to be a math genius like my brother. I study really hard, I try and I try and I kind of get the concepts, but let's face it, I'm not gonna get there from here. And at the end of the day, so what.

“I do other things. You know that's okay. So it’s kind-of realizing you're not alone in your failure. Everyone [fails] who tries anything new, and then recognizing the things that excite you, that you're good at. Go chase those things.

“[Recently this] opportunity came up [at work] in this completely different department, and I was like, well this is cool because it's core to our business….This is like a big deal. But I didn’t know anything about this stuff. 

“Interestingly enough, I met with the director of the department, and they were getting ready to make an offer on the role. They were gonna fill it. But I interviewed with her that day…I talked about my skills. She interviewed me, she made me go through the process. Five days later they offered me the role.” 

Eva: “Wait a minute, you didn't know anything about that new role? What was the process [for you] where you went from “these are my skill sets, and they're applicable to…?”

Lynn: “Well I think it has to do with my attitude you know, because it's like this attitude of ‘Yeah, I don't know it now, but I have these skills that I can apply. I don't know the nitty-gritty of this area, this department, the language, I don't know any of those things. But that's never stopped me before. I mean this is kind of how I've progressed.

“I kind of get into these roles that I'm like, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Is there an action item for me here?" (laughter)

“So there's a certain amount of optimism that kind of comes with territory. If you're gonna take chances, you gotta be optimistic. Again, going back to that thing. Like, I don't know this now I'm gonna screw up, but I'm pretty sure I can get there with hard work, and you know, I know how hard I work.

“I know I'm gonna give everything I’ve got. I'm gonna ask questions. I'm gonna own up to when I screw up. I'll be the first one to say ‘I don't know, but I will find out’. And I will apply what I've learned to this next thing, and then I'll screw up again, and then I'll learn something else, and I'll apply it and we'll just kind of keep progressing that way.” 

Eva: “And I think that's the attitude that's golden, that’s continued to serve you. Let me ask you something here Lynn, because you are very free with saying ‘yeah, I screw up. I own it.’ But what is it about how you screw up that makes it manageable for you and for other people? Because some people are teetering on the edge [and think] ‘oh, I make one mistake and it's over for me.’ They think that way, they live that way, and that ends up being what's true for them.

“You clearly have this – okay we're all in this, we're gonna make mistakes, and Yee-haw, you know, this is gonna be great! There's something about that approach that gives you more room to make mistakes, and it almost sounds like you take a collaborative approach, you share your [mistakes] with others. (laughter). So what is it about how you make mistakes that make your mistakes acceptable, or more acceptable?” 

Lynn: “… while I don’t like to make mistakes, you know, and I can beat myself up over that kind of thing, I think being able to say we're gonna screw up, we know we're gonna screw up but I got your back, you got my back and let's keep moving forward, you know, let's learn from it, let's apply what we've learned and let's keep moving.”

Eva: “It sounds to me that because of your very positive relationship to mistakes, that you live from that positivity, and that helps other people see it from that perspective as well. And again, when one is forgiving about mistakes, it gives everybody else permission to make mistakes - in a positive way, learning, moving forward - and that's actually helpful to any business environment. Because then it frees people to take more risks, have bolder ideas and be willing to experiment in ways that create opportunities that didn't maybe exist before. I think [your approach] is just brilliant.”