R. Willbur

As I get older, I want to continue to grow. I want to learn, and hopefully make less of the same mistakes I’ve made before… and I have made mistakes. Many of them. I’ve grown from a kid to something (hopefully) more mature. Quite a few of you have watched, read my posts, seen my photos, and observed as I’ve said stupid things, made you angry, and struggled to grow through it all.

And I will continue to make mistakes. We all will. The mistakes are not the problem. The problem is when I cannot admit that I make mistakes. The problem is when I cannot see where I have gone wrong, and am therefore unable to make the corrections necessary.

We all grow, shift, and change. I truly believe that if you want to become excellent at anything, you must learn to embrace painful process of making mistakes, seeing the mistakes, and trying something different to find the solution. What bums me out, is when I hear people, or entire companies say things like, “That’s not how we do that here.” or “That’s not the (Co. name here) way.” This attitude is not one of curiosity or exploration, nor will it lead to growth.

Yes, there is something to knowing who you are as a company, or having a strong identity. However, there is a line between a strong sense of self-awareness and self-ignorance.

To all who are a part of specialty coffee, please, let’s work to not get hung up on what we’ve figured out, but let’s push forward to discovering what we do not know. Let’s embrace the idea that there is probably, always, a way that we can do what we do better. Let’s not settle or rest thinking we’ve gained all the knowledge there is to be had, but believe that if we keep learning we will get closer to such a goal.