I don’t know about you, but at the end of the day, Tiger is still the golf genius child-protégé he was to me a few months before all the scandal. Really, how many of us actually care about his ‘issues’ with remaining loyal to his wife. I know, many of you are probably aghast at what I (a woman!) am saying right now. However, the truth is the truth. We’re not mad at his recent apology because we think he hasn’t suffered enough for his wrongdoing, we’re mad because deep in the depths of our psyche we know that once he gets back to focusing on the game, we will all, once again, be enthralled with this genius of a player. End of story, enough said, hope all that personal life stuff of his works out. So why all the hoopla?

It’s a simple distraction, and an entertaining one at that. It’s also the tale of a mistake, maybe a big one, maybe a small one, time will tell (I err on the side of the later). We think that in order to succeed, we need to avoid making mistakes. This could not be farther from the truth. In fact, mistakes are a wonderful thing. They cause pause. They encourage us to reevaluate and rethink. They enable us to review what might be missing and how we can fill in and improve the next time around. Mistakes bring us back to our motivational behavior that encouraged the activity or venture in the first place.

And in some cases, we learn exponentially from the mistakes of others. The Olympics are the most awesome example of exactly that – motivation that spurs from mistakes. If anyone saw Apolo Ohno take home a bronze medal in the men’s 1,000 meter short track over the weekend you know just what I mean. Oh the sight, with Ohno whipping into 3rd position seconds before the finish and the announcer most appropriately stating “you’ve got to wait for the mistake and then make your move.”

Make your moves, learn from your mistakes, and certainly learn from the mistakes of others.

1. Does the candidate fit our corporate culture
2. Does their personality match those already on the team
3. How will their unique skill set combine with those of the existing team
4. Will they challenge the status quo and creatively improve performance & profit
5. Where will the fall-out occur if this isn’t a good fit
6. What if the team is unwilling to accept the new-hire
7. What kind of on-boarding will be necessary to help the new-hire succeed

These are just a few of the questions to consider, and yet, they barely skim the surface when important decisions need to be made, particularly at crucial times in business development and growth. One of the ways we can make the right decisions is to look at current successes and blunders of leaders & their teams. We’ve had quite a few excellent examples in the very recent news to evaluate:

1) Conan O’Brien lets his staff know that changes are pending, but that he’s got their back and to prove such, he’s worked a severance deal that includes over 200 of his staffers. Certainly a popular guy right about now. Would you want to bring in a ‘Conan’ to your team?

2) Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda apologizes briefly for a mistake that affects millions of cars and undoubtedly millions of dollars for the company founded by Toyoda’s grandfather. Yet, where’s the team? Fresh-on-the-scene US Toyota leaders speak out as well, but the automaker is not sending a message of unity and from the scarce and well overdue appearance of Toyoda, it seems as though it’s uncertain who is actually managing this dire problem. Would you want to bring in an ‘Akio Toyoda’ to your team?

3) John Edwards staff member goes above and beyond the call of duty (an understatement at best). At what point does leadership adversely affect the career of team members. Who really wins here?, and who are the losers? Would you want a ‘John Edwards’ leading the team and putting his staff in unthinkably awkward situations, or for that matter, would you really want an ‘Andrew Young’ on your team?

Examples to learn from… Hiring decisions are not to be taken lightly, nor made hastily.