Years ago, in my job, I made a mistake. I flubbed, blundered, faux pas’d, slipped-up, fudged and royally screwed the pooch.

It was a relatively simple detail that I simply forgot just once but it was one of great potential consequence. Disaster was averted but the damage to any faith that myself or anyone else, could manage this detail in the future without multiple reminders, and rigid and strict supervision has been decidedly permanent.

There is now a long line a people offering verbal reminders, notes on my computer screen and people physically observing me all to prevent my making the one mistake I will never, ever make again.

But that’s cool, now, with so many people working to make sure I don’t screw the pooch, I don’t have to remember or even think about it.

My goal here is not to criticize my minders, or to feel sorry for myself but to examine the dynamics of why this happens and offer a allegory to illustrate an alternative. Yeah sure it's annoying as hell and I'm exercising some demons writing about it, but let's be proactive.

Many in upper management feel, I believe, a great personal responsibility for the performance of their subordinates. This, hopefully, is how they rose to leadership. When something goes wrong they feel personally responsible and perhaps even embarrassed. Their reaction is personal as well but unlike a personal experience like burning your hand on a stove, a leader has to trust that the ‘hand’, the person who made the mistake, will learn their lesson all by themselves. They don’t have absolute control but they have to ensure to themselves and everyone else that “this will never happen again.”

There are meetings, emails, conference calls and pretty soon, a new written policy that will never go away. For who would won’t to be responsible for allowing a repeated failure.

I had a friend growing up that was forbidden to play baseball because he was once hit in the mouth with a bat. His mother, someone with absolute power over his life, was concerned with her own peace-of-mind as much the safety of her son. Her fear caused him to throw away a hard earned lesson and sit on the sidelines and watch other kids play. He was taught fear, he was taught insecurity and failure as a goal. Great news though, he was never hit in the mouth with a bat again!

I must disclose that the story I am about to tell, I have never been able to confirm to be a true story about iconic test pilot Chuck Yeager, but the story works best with him as the subject, so I’m telling this that way but as a allegory only. If anyone can show me some verification of this story, I’d be happy to see it.

Chuck Yeager was testing a new plane and shortly after takeoff the plane lost power and crashed. Chuck was able to eject and parachute to safety. It was soon learned that the new aircraft design was not at fault. A flight technician had simply filled the plane with the strong type of fuel.

The technician in question was understandably nervous when he saw Chuck approaching him after this discovery had been made. Surely he would be chastised, demoted, perhaps fired. Whatever Chuck had in mind, he knew he had it coming. He had failed, and failed big!

When the test pilot walked up to the technician he simply said. “You made a mistake. It was a mistake that cost millions and almost my life. Because I know that you know it was big mistake and because I know that you would never, ever let it happen again, I am placing you in charge of prepping the next flight.”

You can imagine with that vote of confidence that that technician was double and triple checking every detail of that next mission. He was energized and was accountable to the tremendous faith Chuck had put in him.

Instead of a berated failure, the technician became an empowered leader with an important lesson under his belt instead of hanging over his head.

A year from now, if I’m still doing what I’m doing now, there will be a line of people and memos standing ready to prevent any chance of me or anyone else repeating my one-time mistake. It will never change. It’s policy now and everyone’s ass is covered.

Frankly, I’m ok with that. My life is music and my day gig can’t possibly get that far under my skin. One day, I will employ a band and a staff. Like any part of life, I can take a lesson from the bad management I have experienced and from the alleged ‘tale’ of Chuck’s leadership and apply it: Managers manage, administrators administrate but leaders lead by empowering and creating other leaders.

Unless I am mistaken.