Failure resume
Tanya Hewitt, PhD
Objective
From the inspiration given by Martha Acosta PhD, I thought I should attempt a public failure resume to allow both myself and others to be aware of my failings.
We can always strive to be better.
We can always strive to be better.
Experience
- I denied my husband his last chance to see his favourite band Rush at their last concert
- I own many books I have not read
- I lacked urgency to earn money with my own business
- I am overweight
- I once publicly humiliated a co-worker
I look at messes in my house and think “someone should clean that”
Skills
- I suck at time management
- I have often arrived late
- I signed up for webinars that I did not attend
- I have missed meetings
- I have poor intuitive ability to “read the room”
- I become difficult to be around when I am stressed
- I allow things to fall through the cracks
- I am not good with email
I have missed important emails due to overwhelm or inattention
Education
- I paid for a MOOC for nearly a year without accessing it at all
- Early in my PhD, I mimicked anything my supervisor suggested be done
- I dropped courses when my performance in them threatened my average
- I studied for an exam from the course description (I was so lost in the course and did not ask for help)
- I depended on peer help (boyfriend, classmates) instead of going to office hours
Leadership Experience
When unprepared in a leadership role, I have tended to bark out orders and displayed extreme dissatisfaction, completely indifferent to how this came off to others.
I have not engaged in sufficient data (and diverse opinion) gathering before making decisions on behalf of an organization.
I have committed to some activities that I allowed to fall off my radar.
Commitment
While it is difficult to disclose such vulnerability from my past, in doing so, I hope to learn from my mistakes and improve to become a better person in the future.