FAST COMPANY: How do you handle mistakes?
GLENN CLAYTON: I think one of the greatest responsibilities of any leader, whether its the CEO of a company, or someone leading another type of organization, is being able to admit mistakes. At Appleton, one of our five core values is actually candor. We encourage our team members to be candid about mistakes, ultimately understanding that we have to put the needs of the organization above our egos, and that means when mistakes are made, acknowledging them, looking at a path forward, looking at this mistake again, and how do we ensure we're meeting the needs of the organization.
How do you handle mistakes?
Glenn Clayton is the Founder and President of Appleton Learning. Appleton is a nationally recognized, award winning educational services provider
specializing in tailoring instructional techniques to the unique learning preferences of individuals based on psychometric assessments. Clayton started Appleton out of his college dorm room at UAHuntsville in 2004. He was a freshman business student who, like many college students, was struggling to make enough money to pay for tuition and books. He decided to start tutoring to help supplement his income.
Today, Appleton Learning is helping to pioneer a new way of approaching educational support services. Appleton now provides everything from tutoring and homework help to ACT and SAT prep classes to actually contracting with schools to help them develop new programs. One of the biggest honors came when Glenn Clay- ton, at age 24, became the youngest recipient of the Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Huntsville’s history. In 2011, BusinessWeek named Clayton one of the top 25 young entrepreneurs in America.
