Leadership Conversations: Challenging High Potential Managers to Become Great Leaders

CHAPTER 23

Lessons from Success and Failure

Checking results of a decision against its expectations shows executives where their strengths are, where they need to improve, and where they lack knowledge.

—PETER DRUCKER

Chad, a bright and dedicated F-16 squadron commander, served his country with commitment and distinction. Yet he initially washed out of the pilot training he began a week after getting married. First-stage training was so easy that he finished second in his class with little effort. The lesson he took from that success—that he did not have to work hard to get by—nearly ended his career before it began. Predictably, he paid even less attention during second-stage training and failed. In his words: “I went from an air of invincibility ...