Second Chances

Before: Toby on Death Row

To err is human. 

No successful entrepreneur will tell you that the road to success is paved with, well, success. 

In fact most will be brutally honest: they failed multiple times before they succeeded. Britain's best known entrepreneur, Richard Branson, will tell you candidly that he's failed more often than he's succeeded. 

The x-factor in succeeding is trying. And, perhaps, most importantly, having the opportunity to try. 

Now, as an owner of two rescue dogs, I know first hand that failure can eventually lead to success (and how rewarding that can actually be). 

Molly's gratitude is visible. A waggy tail, a watchful eye and a determination to please are all part of her character and, we think, wholly down to the fact that when she was cold, starving and shivering in a rescue shelter, we picked her. 

Toby has been a little slower to get there. But then he's been let down by humans twice. A double rescue, he's been abandoned, then saved, then abandoned again. The second time facing an almost certain premature end to his disappointing short life that far too many dogs face every single day in this country. 

Quite understandably he's wary us humans will do it to him again. But, canny and cautious though he is, there's no mistaking his utter delight every morning when he discovers that we're still there and there's no dark, cold, unwelcoming kennel for him. 

But, in business, we're much less likely to forgive mistakes. 

Customer service cock up? Tell it on Twitter. 

Product faulty? Flaunt it on Facebook. 

Staff problem? A public flogging ought to do it. 

We forget that to err is human. But to forgive is divine. 

Everyone. Absolutely everyone deserves a second chance.