1 tiny thing that keeps me humble...
This story is a little embarrassing. If you know me well, you know that I'm very impatient, and I like doing things my own way. I can't help my Big Aries Energy.
When I was in 3rd grade, my teacher Mrs. Jean Martin (I remember people referring to her by full first and last name - she was a boss) sent home a note to my mother that said: Niki does exceptional work, but she needs to slow down to avoid careless mistakes. (PS: If you're wondering about the Niki, you can blame my mother for calling me a nickname of my middle name Nicole until I decided to go by my first name, Jami, when I went to college).
Mrs. Jean Martin would be pleased at a lot of what Little Niki has accomplished since then, but shake her head with I-warned-ya discontent at countless typos/missed decimal points, tossed aside Ikea furniture instructions, and "I don't need these" board game instructions.
But recently, something happened that has truly made me recall Mrs. Jean Martin and fiiiiiinally embracing the concept of checking myself before wrecking myself.
Here's the story. With the HQ team growing and our branded apparel business moving from 1-2 orders a week to 3-4 orders per DAY, I decided we were ready for an upgrade. We need more branding! My Founder genius came up with a brilliant idea - PROFESSIONALLY PRINTED MAILING LABELS (this is why I make the big bucks, friends). And I knew just the Founder to order those labels..... :::::looks in mirror:::::: So off I went (actual footage of me doing so) and placed the order and within minutes, we were on our way to fancy new labels. My work there was done.
A few days later, the labels arrive and I couldn't wait to share them with the team and hear their gratitude for how these would elevate all the mailings we send out!
Until I opened the package (which seemed oddly smaller than the box I anticipated they would come in).... and they literally looked like they should go on an envelope mailed from my daughters' playhouse mailbox. I'm embarrassed to show you this below, but I now have one of these on my desk at all times to keep me humble and help me remember Mrs. Jean Martin's voice in my ear.
I will say this - rather than blame the printer for it being "their mistake" (when it was so clearly mine), or tossing them and quickly re-ordering more - I used this as an opportunity to proclaim proudly to my team two things:
- I messed up! Mistakes are OK.
- I should have delegated this to someone better at these things than I am
As a leader, it's so important to admit both. So I keep this little guy ok.... this super-fucking-tiny-needs-a-magnifying-glass-to-see-it guy right where I can view it at all times to remind me so.
