"You'd better man up and lead your squadron. Not every decision you make is going to be the right one." Probably not the exact words, but close. "Red Tails" is an inspiring movie, and I thought that was a pretty good "take-home" line.
It's important to be given permission to make mistakes. That's how you know you're being truly trusted. Trusted to do the right thing in the end. Trusted to come through in a pinch. Trusted to trust your own judgment, to go with your gut, and to have that be a good thing. Trusted to learn from your mistakes and to use them to discipline your thoughts so that you experience results that match expectations.
A person who isn't "allowed" to mess up (and to recover from messing up) will be tentative, second-guessing every decision and suffering from analysis paralysis. Bound by doubt and recrimination, a prisoner of his or her hesitation and fear of failure. And that's not the leader you want in a pinch. You'll be the VW Bug left behind in the dust of the Ferrari. You'll be the outfit being fired on from all sides with nowhere to go and no plan to get you there.
"Not every decision you make is going to be the right one." But go ahead and make a decision. Give yourself permission to take a chance, to fail colossally. What's the worst thing that can happen? Pffft. "Man up and lead your squadron." Who knows? You might succeed!
