Here are some extended quotes that didn’t all make it into the book, The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation… although a few of his quotes are in there.
You can check out his episode of “My Favorite Mistake” to learn more about Kurt and his lessons learned.
Kurt Wilkin is a co-founder and CEO of HireBetter and managing partner of Bee Cave Capital. His bio describes himself as a “proud mistake maker.”
Learning from Mistakes:
“I very much have the belief that we learn best from our own stories, our own experiences, and definitely from our own mistakes — If we have the right attitude.”
“I like to say, ‘The bigger the shit show, the bigger the lesson I’m gonna learn.’ So it just allows me to learn.”
“I think if, if we only look at our successes and pat ourselves on the back, we’re never gonna get better.”
“If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not trying, you’re not growing. And if there’s anything I could impart on my team and your team is to try make a mistake, learn from it, move on. If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not entrepreneurial enough, you’re too safe. And if you don’t learn from your mistakes, then we’ve got a bigger problem.”
Rewarding People Who Admit Mistakes?
“But I want you to make mistakes. I want you to learn from it. And I want us all to acknowledge, don’t hide from your mistakes. If you hide from your mistakes, then you’re a coward.”
“I invest in people and if the people are humble enough to recognize their mistakes and, and, and be a learner… I want to be around people who are willing to make both make mistakes, but then also accept that they do make mistakes” — instead of being the “smartest person in the room” who’s “too proud of themselves.”
Learn from Small Mistakes
“I’m not sitting here saying everybody just make mistakes all day long.”
He tells his sons, “I want you to make mistakes. I’m here to help you make mistakes, but I’m also here to help you not make the life altering mistakes,” such as driving drunk.
In the workplace, “If it’s a matter of saying yes to a 10% discount to a client all day long, if we don’t like it, we’ll talk to you. But to hide something material from a client or from us is big mistake.”