“And the winner is not La La land”. What we can all learn from last night at The Oscars

Look let’s face it we all make the odd mistake at work.

Who amongst us hasn’t sent an ill-judged e mail, not returned a phone call, forgotten to send something to a client, under-estimated or over-billed, or maybe even occasionally handed out the wrong envelope at the climax of an awards ceremony?

Poor PwC who have run the ballot for the last 83 years. There will be a fair amount of recrimination and investigation going on today.

Imagine the scene in the boardroom a couple of miserable accountants still in evening dress are called in to account for envelopegate.

Shuffle, shuffle, fidget, fidget, mumble mumble….

"I am so sorry. I mean I have been on top form this year. My work on the Goldstein audit went really smoothly, even when we had to do a second stock take when we couldn’t find that extra box of ladies blouses. I was so enjoying the Oscar night, I suppose what with the lights and those two out of Bonnie & Clyde and the fact that I was going to try to get into Elton’s after show party, I just got a bit distracted. Oh bloody hell it was embarrassing when that producer from La La land started crying. Still I have learnt my lesson. Focus, focus, focus. I am sure we'll all see the funny side too....right I'd better get back to the day job. I have got tax returns to file you know."

When I was an advertising nipper I accidently booked a table for 20 for a client Xmas lunch at a dry cleaners not a restaurant. (“Tuxedo Express” /’Tuxedo Junction” – an easy mistake to make.) And of course I bet everyone reading this post has at least once pressed “Reply All” too quickly on an e mail with “What a tosser” as the accompanying text.

We live in unforgiving times. Mistakes are sadly now more likely to result in dismissals than amusing anecdotes. The Forbes Coaches Council published last year 7 behaviours that could lead to firing – a mixture of traditional corporate vices, (false expenses, shouting, letting your love life in the office cloud your judgement) to a few more contemporary misdemeanours, including errant Social Media behaviour.

In a disposable commercial environment careless conduct will not be tolerated. But do we distinguish between accident and intent? Does a culture of forgiveness suggest corporate weakness or a desire for collective self-improvement?

Modern organisations encourage teams to “fail fast” in other words to innovate and move on from the things that don’t work. Individual mistakes damage reputations and can destroy value, but they can also lead to a renewed vigour, discipline and desire for success. Forgiveness can be a sign of corporate strength and commercially beneficial in the long run.

In the meantime, the screenplay for my intergalactic romcom musical set on the moon (“Space in my heart”) is coming along nicely and should do very well in the 2020 awards season. I do hope they get the right envelope.