Book Review: Permission to Screw Up by Kristen Hadeed

Aken Roberts -

As I take yet another journey into entrepreneurism, I'm actively working on overcoming my fears of failure and starting something that won't be perfect on day one. Kristen Hadeed's Permission to Screw Up came up in my search for books and articles about said fears. This is my casual review.

While a pleasant to read book and one still ripe with valuable information, it was not the content I had hoped for my situation. The book still does help with the "you will screw up, and it'll make you better" theme, but it's focused on a leader with an existing team. I struggle with starting in the first place, not what to do after that point.

Still, I enjoyed the book, and did come away with new knowledge. Perhaps even a bit of confidence, hearing about someone struggle their way to success in a candid way. It was an easy and quick read (basically an afternoon for me). It made me smile. I'd read it again.

Kristen says she wrote this book as a way to talk about what goes wrong as much as what goes right. To embrace your perfections. To celebrate the bad days, and reframe your relationship with failure. I believe she achieves those goals, and becomes a friend along the way.

I'd recommend this book to:

  • Anyone in a leadership capacity that wants to improve their relationship with those they lead; this may not transform your business, but you never know what tip or trick can make a difference
  • Entrepreneurs struggling with the isolating feeling of having the weight of a business on their shoulders
  • Leaders who struggle with the harder conversations, e.g. critical feedback, the need to fire, etc.
  • Anyone who enjoys an easy-to-read nonfiction behind-the-scenes style book of an entrepreneur going through the motions of building a business

💡 I wrote this review with the specific intention of not talking about the contents of the book directly, even though I have many notes on my specific learnings and take-aways. Would you have rather had those items included here? I'm interested to hear your feedback as the reader, since I'd like to continue writing reviews on the books I read.