Friday, June 12, 2009

The Cost of Education

The following story is told about Tom Watson, founder of IBM.
Watson placed great store by learning.

One day, Tom Watson called a senior executive who had just made a
big mistake to his office. The cost of the mistake could be
reckoned at $10,000.
Watson and the executive discussed the case for some time until
Watson finally got up to leave.
Looking apprehensive, the executive asked:
"So does that mean I'm fired, sir?"
"Fired?" said Watson with a genuine look of disbelief on his
face. "Heck, no! How can I fire you when I've just spent
$10,000 educating you?"

Moral: Even costly mistakes are worth it if we learn from them.