Saturday, February 28, 2009

To Err is Human

When I was younger, I felt the need to cover up my mistakes by making excuses. But I have come to learn that it's best just to admit the mistake and come clean. There are so many people that just can't bring themselves to admit that they were wrong or it was their fault.

I had to bring a guy back in to the studio to re-record a podcast that I had managed to record over. I thought about making an excuse that the audio program had not saved it correctly. But you know what, it felt so good to say to him, "I messed up. One of your podcasts doesn't exist. Can you come back in to re-record?" I even admitted the botch up to my supervisor and co-workers. All of them said something along the lines that we all make mistakes.

I've seen many a leader make a mistake and due to pride or they didn't want to appear to be a weak leader, not own up to it. Making mistakes is unavoidable. Whether in our personal or professional lives, the way we handle our blunders makes all the difference. The good leaders will admit making a mistake and move on. The great leader will admit the mistake, learn from it, and never make it again.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Susan,

I agree with you! Heartily, in fact! I find it quite liberating to admit that I am a flawed individual--but that I'll do almost anything to correct my error.

I also find this to be true in my family life! My daughter is now old enough that I fee comfortable letting her know that I'm really not all-powerful, omniscient and invincible. Sometimes I can just say, "I don't have all the answers!" or "No, I can't fix your problem and make it all better!"

Of course, I usually over-dramatize it for humorous effect, such as "Oh, no!!!!!!!! Your mother isn't PERFECT! I know you must be TERRIBLY DISAPPOINTED, because you ordered a PERFECT mother, but instead you got meeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!"
Then I lay down on the couch, the back of my hand pressed to my forehead.

Beth

Anonymous said...

In the words of my three-year-old nephew..."No one is perfect. I'm not perfect and your not perfect. Only God and Jesus are perfect and when we go up to the sky, then we will be perfect too." That's not bad for a three-year-old. Of course, he can also count to 100, knew all his letters at 18-months-old, and knows where Oregon is on a map...and we aren't even from Oregon.

I try to make at least one mistake everyday. I do a really good job of it too.

Karen said...

so true