In most organizations, mistakes and failure are viewed negatively and managers and employees alike are conditioned into believing that mistakes are a reflection of the incompetence of an individual. And hence to avoid mistakes, individuals tend to play it safe by opting to do things the ‘same old way’. There is no attempt at innovation, because every time you try something new, there is always the risk of failure. But, ironically risk avoidance carries the worst risk any organisation can take. It is the surest method of creating a ‘safe’ organisation where creativity is stifled and conformity becomes the norm. This mindset then permeates the organization and becomes part of its informal culture to its long term detriment. The organization then does not ‘grow and develop’.

Some key guidelines for managers when trying to establish a healthy risk-taking work environment are:

Accept Mistakes - Managers and subordinates must be taught that errors are part of the cost of development.

Tolerate failure - Many innovations and concepts are not successful initially. Persistence and the ability to deal with failure are therefore essential. As Akio Morita, the late Chairman of Sony says, “When customers see our products they only see success, they do not see the 99% of failures that made that product possible”.

Do not be conditioned by past failures - Past mistakes must be acknowledged and learned from. They must never be allowed to impede risk taking options in the future.

Source : www.heera.com.my

A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience.(Miguel de Cervantes)

A country can be judged by the quality of its proverbs. (German proverb)

You can outdistance that which is running after you, but not what is running inside you. (Rwandan proverb)

Do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather by your friends. (Czech proverb)

There are three friends in this world — courage, sense, and insight. (African proverb)

It is easy to sit at the helm in fine weather. (Danish proverb)

Smooth seas do not make for a skillful sailor. (African proverb)

Love’s not a potato. You can’t throw it out the window.(Russian proverb)

He who forgives ends the quarrel.(African proverb)

Under capitalism man exploits man; under socialism the reverse is true. (Polish proverb)

Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest violence. (Hebrew Proverb)

A superior person brings out the best in others. (Chinese proverb)

Success isn’t how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started. (Proverb origin unknown)

Our Lord! (they say), Let not our hearts deviate now after Thou hast guided us, but grant us mercy from Thee; for Thou art the Grantor of bounties without measure. (Ali Imran :8 )

Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it. (Andre Gide)

Nobody believes the official spokesman… but everybody trusts an unidentified source. (Ron Nesen)

Persuading others to do what we believe does not work unless we do it ourselves. Dedicate yourself to doing. (Unknown)

You have to believe in yourself when no one, else does. That’s what makes you a winner. (Venus Williams)

What we think or what we know or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do. (John Ruskin)

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We have to agree most with John Ruskin.

This is the supplication of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) for his companion Abu Salamah r.a:

O Allah, forgive Abu Salamah, raise his rank amongst those who are rightly guided, and You be the Caretaker of his descendants after him.  Forgive him and us O Sustainer of the universe, make his grave spacious for him and grant him light in it.

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Note: Whenever someone supplicates this for another Muslim, he may take the name of the demised in place of the name of Abu Salamah.

Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don’t wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it’s at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savoured. (Earl Nightingale)

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so… uplifting, innit?

Our Lord! we have heard the call of one calling (us) to Faith, ‘Believe ye in the Lord,’ and we have believed.

Our Lord! Forgive us our sins, blot out from us our iniquities, and take to Thyself our souls in the company of the righteous.

(Ali Imran :193)

The world is composed of givers and takers. The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better. (Unknown)

If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life.  There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. (Bruce Lee)

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A great fighter he was…

Let others lead small lives, but not you.

Let others argue over small things, but not you.

Let others cry over small hurts, but not you.

Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.

(Jim Rohn)

Integrity is what we do, what we say, and what we say we do. (Don Galer)

Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn’t blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won’t cheat, then you know he never will. (John D. MacDonald)

Integrity is not a 90 percent thing, not a 95 percent thing; either you have it or you don’t. (Peter Scotese)

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What I wanted most

Problems exist only in the human mind. (Anthony de Mello)

Don’t solve your problems, dissolve your problems - so that they should not recur again. (Yogi Bhajan)

No problem is so formidable that you can’t walk away from it. (Charles M. Schulz)

To solve the problems of today, we must focus on tomorrow. (Erik Nupponen)

Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them. (Paul Hawken)

Everyone has problems, its just that some are better at hiding them. (Unknown)