Successful Inventors are not afraid of mistakes. In fact, failure early in the invention process, frequently produces a more efficient final product. One of the reasons that the Soviet Union had difficulty competing technologically with the USA was that the Soviet Union's culture resisted the admitting of mistakes and therefore failed to reap the benefits which come from the debriefing of earlier efforts. The Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson film "K-19: The Widowmaker" illustrates this flaw in the culture of technology development.

In the USA, the "Never Let Them See You Sweat" mentality leads to this same type of immaturity. In some business environments, like animals who hunt in packs or like herds that are ruled by a dominant male, those people who seek advancement through the exploitation of the weaknesses of others are rewarded while those who seek to serve the best interests of all are seen as weaklings and losers. While this type of mentality can in the short-term produce dominance (even as it did in both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union), it results in a culture that is built on distrust and paranoia and such a culture is ultimately self-destructive. "Those who live by the sword, shall die by the sword."

One of the keys to effective self-development is the ability to recognize one's own shortcomings and the willingness to be incorrect. In my experience in teaching classes, I have discovered that classes comprised of adults frequently suffer from a learning obstacle which does not occur as frequently in children between the ages of eight through thirteen. Adults are more likely to be scared to be seen as either ignorant or incorrect. This learning obstacle manifests itself in several ways.

There are some adults who will think that they know the answer to a question, but will not speak up for fear that they will be told that their answer is incorrect. There are other adults who will become angry with a teacher because of the frequency with which their answers are shown to be incorrect. There are adults who will lobby to have the subject matter which is being taught altered because they are unfamiliar with the topic being discussed and are therefore unable to show by their answers a knowledge of the topic. Younger school-age children are less embarrassed by this necessary part of the learning process.

An unwillingness to be seen as ignorant is frequently an obstacle to learning. But a willingness to purge one's mind of past acquired knowledge and start over in the learning process, frequently leads to more efficient learning and a deeper comprehension of the subject matter.

Terry Paulsen had a conversation with one of the executives of Uline about the corporate culture and the training of interns and afterwards wrote an article entitled: "Maturity Comes from Handling Mistakes."

Rosa Say is publishing articles by a variety of authors on the subject of life-long learning throughout the month of September 2006. I recommend the reading of these articles.

The end of the week Self Assessment when practiced without fear of humiliation and with complete self-honesty is one of the greatest tools for personal development. Just as a team of creative designers may become more efficient through reaping the benefits of project debriefing sessions, so you can discover more effective ways to grow by learning from your past mistakes.