Jeff of All Trades

I came across the following image today:

At first I was fairly amused. Who doesn’t know white walls on new tires come with a coating to protect them? Then I thought about it. And thought some more. And realized that probably not a whole lot of people do.

Mr. Redacted here learned a lesson on that day. And I’m sure received a fair amount of ridicule. But look at that edit. Many folks aren’t able to take criticism, let alone ridicule, but this guys a champ. This guy could function and possibly thrive under a leader that doesn’t respect ignorance. But it would eventually take its toll even on him.

If you happen to know me well, you’ll know I’m a big fan of Randall Munroe’s web-comic at xkcd.com. He has an amazing take on this concept of respecting ignorance.

As a leader and mentor you get to celebrate teaching people new things all the time. But only if you have the ability to positively respect ignorance. Failing to do so will only lose you the respect of your team. People want to be treated like people.

Everybody was born naked. Everyone had to start somewhere. Don’t forget where you started from. And if you ever had a leader that wasn’t able to respect your ignorance, then break the cycle.