Succeeding in Your Business by Cliff Ennico

I try not to write "holiday specific" columns because everybody does that, and I always try to say something in this column each week that's NOT being said elsewhere.

I am making an exception this week.

Every Fourth of July weekend, it's common to talk about the freedoms and liberties we enjoy (and frequently take for granted) as Americans — freedoms that few other countries on Earth can match. We are proud of them, and we should be.

The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution (known as the Bill of Rights) lists a number of these basic freedoms such as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, freedom of the press and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in the depths of World War II, added two new freedoms to the American pantheon: freedom from want and freedom from fear.

But there's one freedom nobody talks about — a freedom that is uniquely American, a freedom that is not enshrined in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights or any of our founding documents (to my knowledge) but is nonetheless very real.

The freedom to screw up.

Somebody a lot more famous than I once said that "America is the land of second chances." I wish I had a dollar for every entrepreneur that's failed in some part of his life but has managed somehow to pick himself up and keep on going until he did succeed. A couple of days ago, The Wall Street Journal reported that "a bankruptcy filing in Silicon Valley has the same value as a dueling scar in a Prussian officer's mess" — a badge of pride and honor (although sometimes ugly as the Dickens).

While not pardoning or condoning reckless behavior, our society not only tolerates mistakes, but views them as valuable learning tools. Even on the hit television show "So You Think You Can Dance?" the other night, one of the judges consoled a losing contestant by telling her, "That's what growth is all about: You make mistakes, you learn from them, you move on."

Which is why recent news events make me somewhat nervous that this essential freedom is under serious threat in America right now.

Take the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. A simple error of business judgment (installing the wrong piece of equipment, or not enough equipment, on a drilling rig) has led to one of the greatest manmade environmental disasters in history and a federal moratorium on deep-water offshore drilling. The survival of a major ecosystem, an international corporation, and hundreds of small businesses on the Gulf Coast are in jeopardy.

Or take the "freefall" that occurred in the stock market on May 6.

One small mistake in one computerized trade (or maybe a couple — they still haven't figured out what happened) caused the entire Dow Jones to drop 900 points in less than an hour.

Or take a popular, competent politician who commits one error of judgment having nothing to do with his job performance (an extramarital affair, let's say, or a hunting accident or a foolish remark after a couple of martinis). Before you know it, he or she is hounded out of office, and the mistake is replayed — over and over and over again — every time his or her name comes up.

No question about it: Our society is becoming increasingly unforgiving and intolerant of mistakes, and that's bad news for our freedom.

Now, before I get any hate mail, I am not saying that we shouldn't guard carefully against environmental disasters or that people in the public eye shouldn't be very careful about what they say or do. The past couple of decades have witnessed reckless behavior on an unprecedented scale in the United States, permeating every aspect of society (looked at your credit card statements lately?). A little more caution and self-restraint in all of our personal lives, and a little more forethought and proactive "risk management" in our business lives, wouldn't hurt us very much.

But if freedom means anything at all, it means the freedom to screw up occasionally and survive the experience. There are no perfect people — not even heroes. Look closely at any famous person in history, politics, literature and the arts, and you will see a person who was as much a screw-up as a success. It's just that the history books have determined to play down the screw-ups and play up the successes. In other words, they have forgiven.

You have made mistakes in your life; if you haven't, then you were never a teenager. Your parents, neighbors and college deans forgave you back then, and you are a better person today (at least I hope you are).

Alexander Pope once said, "To err is human, to forgive divine." In the absence of criminal intent, mistakes should be corrected, victims should be compensated, and care should be taken to make sure they don't happen again. But they should then be forgiven so people (and, yes, even companies like BP) can move on and prove to the world that their greatness overshadows their screw-ups.

After all, isn't that what a "land of opportunity" is all about?

Cliff Ennico (crennico@gmail.com) is a syndicated columnist, author and former host of the PBS television series "Money Hunt." This column is no substitute for legal, tax or financial advice, which can be furnished only by a qualified professional licensed in your state. To find out more about Cliff Ennico and other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit our Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2010 CLIFFORD R. ENNICO.

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