Travails of returns - Part 5

Continuing the series on starting business in India. So far, covered the business model, initial team, functions and values. Now, we go to a cardinal rule.

On how to deal with mistakes. All of us make a share fair of it. I have seen, how we deal with them is how our destinies are created. Here’s how we’ve navigated, a set of rules learnt via experience. I’ll be the 1st to admit that we are not 100% compliant but won’t be far from it.

• Regulation > Corporate Governance > Company Culture > Monetary loss > Process deviation – Key to note the gravity of the mistake. We have seen this order in various forms and believe that for any enterprise, this is the right sequence. If this order is executed perfectly, then mistakes of the gravest kind (regulation and corporate governance) cease to exist with time.

• Admission is Atonement – If anyone admits to a mistake, especially in writing, it has to be forgiven then and there. Otherwise, the risk-taking culture takes a hit. And in the long run, risk takers win. Obviously, there are boundary conditions to this rule.

• Never live with it – Failing fast. Procrastinating immediate remedy to a mistake that is obvious leads to frustration, sloth and loss. None of which you want, particularly at an early stage.

• Never repeat – Not the same mistake. 2nd is always punishable, whether committed by the same guy or different guys. In the former, the OFBian is not learning and in the later, @OfBusiness is not learning. An org that doesn’t learn, dies.

• Not learn from others – In our opinion, it was a waste of time. Too much time goes into analysis and theorizing. We @OfBusiness and @Oxyzo have always believed that we are original, and hence are better off failing by doing. There’s an inherent bias in the rule. By design.

• Harsher on self – When a punishment has to be doled out or an apology has to be given, it has to be harsher and sharper when done for self. Tough to practice as it leads to deflation of ego. But when done well, it cascades crazily.

Also Read:- Travails of returns – Part 4