Great Leaders Are Humble Enough To Admit Their Mistakes

“If we want to move forward and see Apple healthy and prospering again, we have to let go of this notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose. We have to embrace a notion that for Apple to win, Apple has to do a really good job...and if we screw up and we don’t do a good job, it’s not somebody else’s fault, it’s our fault. So, the era of competition between Apple and Microsoft is over as far as I’m concerned.??This is about getting Apple healthy, this is about Apple being able to make incredibly great contributions to the industry and to prosper again.”

Steve Jobs, CEO, Apple Inc, at the 1997 Macworld Expo

As any great leader will tell you, they have made many mistakes along the way. They will admit that the collective insight from bad decisions taught them invaluable lessons – and how to see opportunities in everything and anticipate the unexpected more quickly. Steve Jobs was very transparent about Apple’s challenges at the 1997 Macworld Expo. Jobs knew that the only way Apple could become Apple again was to embrace the mistakes made, learn from what went wrong and create a culture that would allow everyone at Apple to produce insanely great products again.?

Jobs set the tone for everyone to follow when Apple got the 150 Million investment from Microsoft, which allowed the healing process to begin. Leaders will make mistakes; there’s no denying that fact, but what separates the greats from everyone else is that they have the fortitude to admit their wrongdoings so that those around them can also benefit from their learnings.

They call this wisdom, and many leaders lack it – because they are too proud to recognize mistakes as valuable learning moments for themselves and others. There are many so-called leaders who love to blame others when mistakes happen; have you ever experienced that? I have seen people in leadership positions duck and throw their people under the bus when mistakes happen, leading to mistrust, lack of inspiration, and the fear of trying anything new.?

As a leader, you’re responsible for everything in your organization, and you’ll rightly be held accountable for everything that happens, good or bad. But that’s the price of leadership; according to John Maxwell, if you want the perks of leadership, you must pay the price.?

So this begs the question, what type of leader are you? Do you fail to take any responsibility for any errors that may happen in your department and, by extension, in your company; do your actions shift from doing the right thing to covering your behinds in many instances? Pointing fingers rather than accepting personal responsibility, hiding errors rather than fixing them, and allowing minor problems to become big ones because they’re inadequately addressed.

All leaders make regrettable decisions, and your team will make mistakes as well; as a matter of fact, if you or your team have yet to make any bad decisions, you are not taking enough risks or learning enough to continue growing as a leader. Everyone makes mistakes; no one is perfect, but how you handle the aftermath of that mistake is the key.?

Great leaders ensure that poor choices don’t compound their mistakes. They also make sure they learn from their mistakes and develop actions to handle the situation differently in the future. Remember that mistakes are vital to our growth; we often put way too much pressure on ourselves to seek some unrealistic ideal of perfection. The most extraordinary people in their felids have made countless mistakes; they didn’t give up. Instead, they persevered and inspired many people to follow their example; as Albert Einstein puts it, a person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.

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