In his book, “The Art of Possibility“, Ben Zanders offers pearls of wisdom. One of the most important piece of wisdom that we can learn from the book is what he refers to as “Rule No: 6?.
- If as leaders, we follow this rule, we could potentially make less mistakes and learn much more from the one’s that we do make;
- If as parents, we followed this rule, we create the possibility of a long, well nurtured and meaningful relationship with our children;
- If as spouse, we followed this rule. we can create the possibility of a much more deeper and meaningful relationship with our partner;
- The authors recommend that if we make a mistake, we should say out loud (& hence mean) “How Fascinating” and learn from the mistake. Add this to the Rule No 6, and we could have a lot of fun along the way
So what is Rule No 6? IT simply states: “Don’t take yourself so god damn seriously!“
So, what are the other rules: “None”
There are no other rules!
As parents, teachers, spouses and leaders, we take ourselves and our position of power too seriously and lose our ability to laugh at ourself.
If there is anything that could dramatically improve our quality of life and the ability to lead in uncertain times, it this this ability to not only laugh at our own mistakes and learn from them. This rule also suggests that you could learn from everyone around you as much as they could learn from you.
So, let me follow Rule No 6 and “How Fascinating” this is !
Do share your thoughts about this approach to life and leadership.
