“Permission to Screw Up”–Review

Good evening, bloggers! Awhile back, I read another non-fiction book that’s been sitting on my bookshelf, so I wanted to share it with you. I’ll do my best to keep up with more nonfiction books.

In Permission to Screw Up, Kristen Hadeed is the founder of Student Maid, a cleaning company that hires students. The author started her company in 2007 while she, too, was a student at the University of Florida. In a certain amount of time, she had been able to hire enough students to clean apartments. A few months into the business, while Kristen was sitting in her air-conditioned office, ready to eat her lunch, 45 staff members marched into her office. The grimy, sweaty staff members looked at her without uttering a word, until one of them decided to speak on their behalf: they were quitting. The staff walked out, leaving Kristen in complete shock. Panic set in when she realized the approaching deadlines to get all that cleaning done, but what was she supposed to do now that her staff just walked out on her? And why? And could she get her staff back? Everything had been going well in the beginning, after all. It didn’t take her long, though, to see how wrong she had been.

Ever since that humiliating moment with her staff quitting on her, Kristen had been determined not just to be a better boss, but a better leader. Of course, she was going to have to make tons of mistakes in order to improve. And she made plenty of mistakes. Not only did she truly care about Student Maid, but she also cared even more about her team, the ones who were the foundation of the business. Her mission was to inspire, to lead, to allow her team to make mistakes in order to succeed. At some point, she had been willing to own up to plenty of mistakes, and she knew she had to be willing to offer constructive feedback, enforce accountability, and help her team form meaningful relationships with one another—no matter how scary it was to even approach her team with those concerns.

This was another non-fiction book I enjoyed. One of the things I definitely respect is a boss—even a leader—who can own up to mistakes, one who doesn’t demand perfection. I’ve probably mentioned that I’ve had my share of bosses who practically frowned upon mistakes. Everything must be perfect, and everyone must be happy; no complaining about anything. Something to that extent. While I was reading this book, I was applying a lot of the information to my current job and how I felt more confident as I learned more. But I had to make mistakes, every now and then, too. I’d get tongue-tied. I’d type in something wrong on the computer. There had been many occasions where I had to figure some things out on my own, while there had been other times where I had to swallow my pride and admit I needed help with something. Yes, I admit I’m often too stubborn to ask for help. I’m still going to make mistakes, but I can work on owning up to them—embracing them, even—which is exactly what Kristen Hadeed teaches in her book.

As I’ve mentioned, I’ll do my best to post more reviews for non-fiction. Feel free to post your comments. Happy reading!

About the author: Kristen Hadeed is the founder and CEO of Student Maid, a cleaning company that hires students. She spends much of her time helping organizations across the country improve their own workplace cultures. She lives in Gainesville, Florida. For more info, click here.