I know, I know… “Five Legs On The Octopus” is absurd. After all, the word “octo” means “eight.” Everyone knows that that an Octopus is an ocean animal that has eight… yes, I repeat, eight legs. At least that’s what I thought.
Decades ago when my oldest daughter Sharon was a five year old, she sat on my lap, and together we read Golden Book’s “The Happy Alphabet From A-Z.” You’ll likely remember this classic children’s book. “A” stands for “Apple.” “B” stands for “Ball.” “C” stands for “Cat” and so on and so forth.
Well, we reached the “O,” and of course the words on the page read “O” is for “Octopus… a sea animal with a rounded body and eight long legs.”
As any good Dad would do, I guided my daughter through a counting exercise and said, “Sharon, let’s count the eight legs on the octopus…” She counted 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… I was shocked. The drawing of the octopus had five… yes, five legs on the creature’s body. We recounted and recounted again. There were only five legs on the octopus. Gimme a break!
What happened to the other 3 legs?
And so, we wrote a daddy-and-daughter letter to Western Publishing in Racine, Wisc., the publisher of The Little Golden Books at the time and shared our surprise and concern that this children’s educational book led my daughter to believe “octo” must mean five vs. eight due to their five-legged depiction.
Their editor wrote us back an apology note which I saved for decades. It read, “Thank you for sharing your concern about our Little Golden Book, The Happy Alphabet From A-Z with us. Occasionally, despite the many careful art checks completed by our staff people, an error in art slips by. Before this title is rerun again, we will request that the “O” be corrected by the addition of three more legs to the octopus.”
Of course their apology came with a box of free Golden Books as a token of their sincerity. Nonetheless, how is it possible that three legs escaped any intelligent, savvy staff person? How is it possible that this “error in art” slipped by? Octo equals eight. An octopus has eight legs. Depicting the creature with five legs is absolutely intolerable and incredibly absurd.
Why am I sharing this with you, dear reader? Simply put, we must be careful in our respective enterprises. Although this was an upbeat, even funny, episode in a dad and daughter’s life, it was negatively memorable all these years.
Nobody likes to drive through a fast food restaurant, order a burger, fries and a Coke only to get home and find a chicken sandwich, onion rings and a Sprite in the bag. Conversely, nobody wants to buy a garment in a store believing the clothing had its security tag removed and then arrive home only to find the tag still bolted in place… requiring one to drive back to the store to have it removed.
Legendary Basketball Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith, when talking about “mistakes” said, “What do you do with a mistake? Recognize it. Admit it. Learn from it. Forget it.”
I buy into the “recognize it… admit it… and learn from it…,” but I disagree with Coach Smith’s “forget it.” Those who forget the mistakes they make are doomed to repeat them again.
Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
We all need to be careful in our work and in our lives. Data supports the fact that we typically make mistakes for the following reasons.
- Incomplete Knowledge
We make mistakes on subjects we often don’t have all the relevant facts.
- Pressure
We make mistakes because we think we have to make a decision quickly without being thoughtful.
- Lack of Training
We make mistakes because we were not prepared to make decisions we’re confronted with due to lack of experience.
- Belief of a Need for Speed
We make mistakes because we are of the belief that speed is more important than accuracy in our work.
- Just Not Thinking
We make mistakes because we just don’t take the time to think… really think.
Sure, author Alexander Pope said, “To err is human…” but the key to long-lasting success is to cut down on our errors and mistakes and focus obsessively on quality and performance.
Some mistakes are “honest mistakes.” Some mistakes are certainly forgivable. The key is to learn from one’s mistakes and not make the same mistake twice. My wife Kim and I have told our children over and over again, “We pray you make new mistakes…”
Ironic as it might sound, I remember telling one of my children something to the effect of… “Wow! Amazing mistake my son… truly a big, massive mistake. The good news is that you can check that one off as done, over and gone. Move on and make a new mistake next time.” We all must move on and make new mistakes… and learn from them.
After all, “When you’re through learning, you’re through!”
Still, I have to laugh when I think of “Eight Legs On The Octopus.” That’s a big, massive mistake. Sure hope our publishing friends don’t put three wheels on a four-wheeler in a future book.
Former U.S. first lady Eleanor Roosevelt beautifully said, “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”
Ira Blumenthal is a business consultant, a Georgia resident, a best-selling author, a globally renowned public speaker, a university educator and a college Lacrosse coach. Ira welcomes inquiries and can be reached at Ira@Iraspeak.com. His web site is www.IraSpeak.com
