Speaker 1: My dad defied one of the stereotypes of aging. The older he got, the more open and intellectually curious he became. Quicker to say, I don't know, or I made a mistake, or huh, I never thought about it that way. When he died at 87, he was a great example of a lifelong learner. Learning cultures are organizations with a fierce desire to learn, improve, and adapt. They're intellectually curious and willing to challenge their orthodoxies. They embrace failure as a means for improvement. They expect mistakes, acknowledge them quickly, and share the lessons learned. When leaders nurture a learning culture, their teams are more innovative, creative, curious, and willing to take smart risks. Developing a learning culture is about embedding these concepts at every level of an organization and modeling them for others to see. I used to attend my organization's annual leadership conference. I noticed that some leaders never asked questions and only spoke when talking about their latest successes back home. Other leaders were eager to learn who was doing what more effectively or with better outcomes. Over time, I watched the curious leaders become more respected, more successful, and better able to adapt. As a young, new CEO, I spent my fair share of time blowing smoke, acting like I knew what I was doing at all times, pretending I had answers to all questions. When I developed the confidence to go to people and say, I don't know how to do this or that, and you do, will you teach me? I became a more effective and credible leader in and out of my organization. I ran an organization that produced a large event that was in trouble. Revenue was down. Expenses were up. We made tough decisions about how to right-size the event. Some decisions worked, and some didn't. When the dust settled, we acknowledged our mistakes and said, these things didn't work. We intended this, and the unintended consequence was that. Here's what we've learned. I led an organization that partnered with municipalities in times of crisis. During one such time, we fell short in one town. We knew it. They knew it. They were mad. Within days, I was standing in front of that city council and local media saying, I am sorry. We apologize. Here are my organization's key leaders. We're here to get to work on a new action plan today. Half of what I know, I learned from my successes. The other half I know I learned from my failures. I think that's true for all of us. As leaders, inspiring others to be innovative, creative, curious, lifelong learners includes helping them learn how to fail well. Thanks for watching. To learn more or to contact me, head on over to brunerstrategies.com.