An old mountaineer from West Virginia was admired for his wisdom.  “Uncle Zed,” asked a young man.  How did you get so wise?”

“Weren’t hard,” said the old man.  “I’ve got good judgment.  Good judgment comes from experience – and experience……  Well, that comes from making bad judgments!”

Over the course of our careers many of us have likely exercised poor judgment in certain situations that taught us valuable life lessons as well as professional ones.  If you think back through your work life, I’m sure you can point to times when you would have loved to press a “Re Do” button.  Nevertheless, those experiences left an indelible imprint on you and changed your course or direction.

Throughout the course of my 40+ year career in property management I can point to countless times when things didn’t go quite the way they should have.  In some instances, I made poor decisions about attire or didn’t understand the importance of business etiquette.  In other instances I hadn’t done my homework in advance of a client visit or didn’t grasp the financial implications of a recommendation I was making to an owner about a property I managed.  Sometimes, the impact of my judgment reflected poorly on my company or had an adverse effect on a relationship with an employee.

Thankfully, in most cases, I came away with valuable life lessons that have served me well throughout my career.  Those lessons were sometimes painful, but as I reflect back on them today, some are humorous and give me a good chuckle from time to time.

Jennifer Nevitt and I are ready to share some of our life lessons in a fast-paced, light-hearted session at the NAA Education Conference called “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Top.”  Please join us on Thursday morning, June 16 from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM to learn about our mistakes and how to avoid some of our career pitfalls in your own career.