Freedom to Fail

Although I have no desire to turn this blog into a political forum, I feel compelled to comment on the recent government strategies which have caused me to look back and compare them to a similar situation at my last job – right before I was fired.

Just the same as Mr. Obama has stepped into a position with which he has no prior practical experience, so did the new general manager at the last hotel I worked for. The management company’s upper executives promoted him. His new position placed him in charge of a business which was making a profit and proving itself to be the most valuable cornerstone of the owner’s financial portfolio.

Within days this new GM, who knew nothing about the area, the employees, or the specifics of the job, was making wide and sweeping changes. No matter that what was already in place was working, working well, and had been for decades. He wanted to spread his wings and show all concerned that he was large and in charge. He quickly changed everything; unfortunately, it was all for the worse. Within a few short months, the employee turnover rate was at an astronomical high, expenses were out of control, and sales had plummeted.

I can’t help but be reminded of this experience as I watch current news reports. Every day, it seems our new president is offering to bail out some corporation, financial institution, or automaker. All of a sudden our long-time successful democracy is threatening to turn into a socialist society. Is there truly precedence for this change, or is it merely our new leader’s way of proving that he, like the inexperienced GM of the hotel, is large and in charge, that things will be done his way, and damn the torpedoes!

Even though I, as an employee, was one of the first casualties of the new and detrimental policy changes at the hotel, I can still say with great certainty that interference from an outside agency would have been inappropriate.

The beloved GM whom the power-hungry villain replaced at the hotel was quite fond of the phrase ‘freedom to fail’. It wasn’t just a catchphrase, it was the carefully nurtured culture at the hotel. We knew we had the freedom to fail and be protected – but at the same time we knew that if we made an obviously bad decision, we would have to fix it somehow ourselves.

My point is that sometimes you have to let failures occur. Sometimes you have to let nature take its course. Natural selection, the course of nature, the way things should be – however you want to describe it, we cannot continue to save ourselves from ourselves. We must be held accountable for our mistakes and le those people who lose their jobs and investments prescribe an appropriate course of action.

We should have the freedom to fail. We should have also have the right to disagree with our government and demand that democracy reign.