The Sorcerer's Apprentice

One of my favorite Disney scenes was the short sketch adapted from Goethe's poem, The Sorcerer's Apprentice in the 1940 movie, Fantasia.  In the movie, Mickey Mouse plays the part of the apprentice to the great wizard, "Yen Sid" (note - Disney spelled backwards).  I actually never realized that the movie was based on a Goethe poem until relatively recently, and I was quite surprised to see that the movie (except for the fact that the main character is a mouse) follows the poem almost exactly! Here is the text of the poem:

That old sorcerer has vanished
And for once has gone away!
Spirits called by him, now banished,
My commands shall soon obey.
Every step and saying
That he used, I know,
And with sprites obeying
My arts I will show.

Flow, flow onward
Stretches many
Spare not any
Water rushing,
Ever streaming fully downward
Toward the pool in current gushing.

Come, old broomstick, you are needed,
Take these rags and wrap them round you!
Long my orders you have heeded,
By my wishes now I've bound you.
Have two legs and stand,
And a head for you.
Run, and in your hand
Hold a bucket too.

Flow, flow onward
Stretches many,
Spare not any
Water rushing,
Ever streaming fully downward
Toward the pool in current gushing.
 
See him, toward the shore he's racing
There, he's at the stream already,
Back like lightning he is chasing,
Pouring water fast and steady.
Once again he hastens!
How the water spills,
How the water basins
Brimming full he fills!
 
Stop now, hear me!
Ample measure
Of your treasure
We have gotten!
Ah, I see it, dear me, dear me.
Master's word I have forgotten!

Ah, the word with which the master
Makes the broom a broom once more!
Ah, he runs and fetches faster!
Be a broomstick as before!
Ever new the torrents
That by him are fed,
Ah, a hundred currents
Pour upon my head!
 
No, no longer
Can I please him,
I will seize him!
That is spiteful!
My misgivings grow the stronger.
What a mien, his eyes how frightful!

Brood of hell, you're not a mortal!
Shall the entire house go under?
Over threshold over portal
Streams of water rush and thunder.
Broom accurst and mean,
Who will have his will,
Stick that you have been,
Once again stand still!
 
Can I never, Broom, appease you?
I will seize you,
Hold and whack you,
And your ancient wood
I'll sever,
With a whetted axe I'll crack you.
 
He returns, more water dragging!
Now I'll throw myself upon you!
Soon, O goblin, you'll be sagging.
Crash! The sharp axe has undone you.
What a good blow, truly!
There, he's split, I see.
Hope now rises newly,
And my breathing's free.
 
Woe betide me!
Both halves scurry
In a hurry,
Rise like towers
There beside me.
Help me, help, eternal powers!

Off they run, till wet and wetter
Hall and steps immersed are Iying.
What a flood that naught can fetter!
Lord and master, hear me crying! -
Ah, he comes excited.
Sir, my need is sore.
Spirits that I've cited
My commands ignore.
 
"To the lonely
Corner, broom!
Hear your doom.
As a spirit
When he wills, your master only
Calls you, then 'tis time to hear it."

So what does this poem have to do with leadership?  In my opinion, quite a lot.  In the poem (and in the movie), the sorcerer's apprentice tries to cut corners by casting a spell on the broomsticks.  Unfortunately, while he remembers the spell needed to enchant the broomsticks, he has forgotten the spell that turns the broomsticks back to normal.  In other words, he has set something in motion that he is quite powerless to stop.  Luckily, the sorcerer returns in the end to cast the proper spell, and everything returns back to normal.  In the movie, Fantasia, the sorcerer scolds Mickey Mouse and sends him on his way.  It's almost as if he is saying, "Go back to your chores and don't mess with magic until you are ready!"

I think that Goethe is telling us something more.  One of the best ways to learn is through failure.  Thomas Edison reportedly failed so many times before he was successful in creating the light bulb that he claimed, "I didn't fail.  I found 10,000 ways how NOT to build a light bulb."  As the author, J.K. Rowling said, "It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default."  Nike had a fantastic commercial when I was growing up, in which Michael Jordan kept talking about how many times he had failed.  At the end of the commercial (right before the Nike swoosh appears with the famous "Just Do It"), Michael Jordan says, "I have failed over and over and over again.  And that is why I succeed."  In other words, FAILURE is how WE LEARN.  It is one of the best ways that we do learn - and more often than not, the lessons we learn through failure are the ones that stick in our minds.  FOREVER.  I still remember, to this day, the word I missed to win my school Spelling Bee in 6th grade ("aggravate") - as my PE teacher told me as I walked slowly off the stage, "You will never ever misspell that word again."  And I haven't (incidentally, I also remember my losing word in the 7th grade Spelling Bee, "masonry"). 

As leaders, one of the greatest things that we can do is to give the members of our team the chance to fail.  More likely than not, in the majority of circumstances, there is enough slack in the system to allow our team members to experiment and learn.  If they do fail, more often than not, we can rescue them, as in the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" story.  Give folks a chance - more often than not, they will surprise us and succeed.  However, even if they do fail, they will learn a lesson that they will never forget.