The Academy Of Error

Sit down, Casilda, ”the CEO said in her informal tone, despite being over sixty. I have a proposal to make. It may surprise you …

The engineer was about to deploy an arsenal of justifications for the disgust of the software they had just released. It was the first time in his entire career that something like this had happened to him, but he could already see himself standing on the street.

“Are you going to fire me?” He asked bluntly.

“On the contrary, I am thinking of you to fill my position when I retire next year.”

Casilda couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The gray-haired woman raised her hand for me to follow.

—To finish polishing you, I want you to attend a training course for specific skills that you still lack for the position.

That Saturday Casilda went with British punctuality to the country house where the training would take place. She was greeted by Gabriel, a scruffy-looking dark man who introduced himself as the instructor of a course whose subject no one had specified. He led her through the garden where two men were reluctantly gardening.

“You got the kitchen and you have Robert as your ass.” The objective is to prepare a paella that the whole team will eat.

Before he could protest, the instructor went to another part of the farm to assign missions. In the kitchen, Casilda found a man looking scared at the ingredients on the marble.

“You must be the jerk,” Casilda said, taking off her jacket. I hope you know something about paellas, because what I am … the most elaborate thing I can do is fried eggs.

“I have no idea,” Robert confessed, flustered. Like my wife, who is an executive, what I use the most in the kitchen is the microwave.

“Well, we’ll try to get out of this … I guess they ‘re testing us to gauge our response to an emergency. “

“You can call it that now.” We have to feed the course participants and we don’t know how to cook rice or vegetables.

“That’s what the Internet is for,” Casilda said, taking command, while looking for the recipe on her smartphone.

Two hours later the best paella they had been able to make was served in the garden.

“Try it and be very honest with your opinion,” Gabriel asked the participants.

After raising the fork to her mouth, a short-haired young woman declared:

“You missed the rice.” Instead, the vegetables are raw.

” Too much water, perhaps,” said another. More than a paella, this looks like a risotto, but for a beginner.

The cook grew tense as criticism fell in the relaxed atmosphere. Hearing a couple of laughs, she wanted to get up and leave the table, but the instructor stopped her.

“What have you learned from this paella, Casilda?”

“That I’m a mess on the stove.” You have chosen the wrong person.

-On the contrary! It has been a success. Tell me why do you feel guilty? You yourself have said that it is the first time you make a paella.

“I’m furious because …” Casilda snorted, “… I can’t stand something going wrong. ” I block.

“Aha … that’s because you still don’t know the value of the error. “

What we do well does not teach us anything.

We can only learn from mistakes. A baby often fails to take his first steps. And when you drink water from a glass, you will need to get wet until you have mastered the swing of your wrist.

“Is that why you made me cook?”

“Yes, because there is something worse than error.” Stay in your comfort zone so that there is not even the possibility of being wrong.