Even “Silly Mistakes” are more expensive than they used to be.

In what has perhaps proven to be one of the most embarrassing typos of the year, Penguin Group publishers in Australia is set to reprint a cookbook containing the word "people" where "pepper" should have been.

Calling it "nothing more than a silly mistake," the Penguin Group head of publishing said the book that called for "freshly ground black people" versus "freshly ground black pepper" was a typographical error that should have been caught by their proofreader, but was unfortunately missed, reports AP. The problem is, that “silly mistake” could cost millions of silly dollars in reprinting, possible lawsuits and someone’s job position. And in this economy, that’s silly.

It’s frightening to think how much the cost of silly mistakes has risen in these last decades. In 1992, Dan Quayle’s spelling mistake only cost him a second term as Vice President. In January 2010, the State Department overlooked the Underwear Bomber’s VISA due to a spelling mistake, which almost cost us another plane bombing. But then, how many of us would be able to spell ‘AbdulMutallab’ correctly in a spelling bee? And then, there’s the mistaking of AIG’s name to mean the American International Group, instead of its true meaning: “Ain’t I Greedy.” That silly mistake cost us about 12 million jobs and oh, around $4 trillion.

While silly mistakes do happen in business, I’m beginning to wonder what they’ll cost us five years from now. Should we start thinking about budgeting annually for silly mistakes? Should we be thinking about applying for silly mistake insurance? Or should we simply slow down our thinking? If we did, we’d probably avoid more mistakes, along with the added cost of making them. In my company, I don’t have a silly mistake budget — for starters, I can’t afford one; and secondly, I don’t view any mistake as silly when it costs money. Hmm, maybe that’s why I’m still in business in this silly economy.

Business at the speed of trust

I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve been hired by a client because of my unique perspective — only to proceed with the project and be told that I need to see (and do) things their way. And they wonder why their brand is stuck in the mud. Hmmm.

Sounds like yet another case of GO vs. EGO. Too many companies cannot pass go due to the egos of the people who are at the helm. Founders, CEOs, presidents and whatever else you want to call them are scared that if they loosen their grip on the reigns and trust someone else to steer their brand in the right direction, they’ll look bad. Ergo, their ego keeps them from doing what they spent big money to do in the first place — shift their brand into “go.”

Yet, when you look at the most enduring brands — which belong to the most resilient of companies — you need only to look at their leadership for examples
of what to do: put your trust in the right people, and let them do what they do best.

I call it “business at the speed of trust.”

In this economy, especially, CEOs are filled with skepticism about any new approach to their marketing. They love the approach one day, and shut it down the next. And the bigger their ego, the bigger their self-doubt.

My point in all this? Relax. Park your ego for a while, put your trust in the people you hire, and trust that you made the right decision. Then, let go. And when you do, you’ll be amazed at the positive effect it can have on your business, and the timeliness by which things get done.