How to Handle Mistakes with Humility

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝗮 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀. The worst thing you can do is ignore it. The second worst is to blame someone else. Neither is an option for me, and I learned the impact of this thinking years ago. My team set up for a complex hip revision case — lots of trays (over 40!), lots of moving parts... ...and one key tray didn’t make it into the room. Cue panic and chaos. It made for a tense, uncomfortable surgery, and the surgeon was not happy. (That’s putting it nicely.) Later that day, I walked into his office, shut the door, and said, “Doctor, I apologize. I'm fully responsible.” I didn’t mention my team. I didn’t explain. I didn’t deflect. “I’m the leader. If there’s a mistake, it’s my mistake. I plan to investigate the cause thoroughly and implement procedures and processes to ensure it never happens again. If you're interested, I'll let you know what I discover and the steps to prevent it in the future. But I want you to know I take full responsibility for that tray not being there." That was it. No excuses. Just ownership. This was the worst mistake I was involved with after almost 20 years as a rep. I expected to lose the business and, worse, have my reputation trashed. Instead, a week later, when I returned to the hospital to work with a different surgeon, the circulating nurse pulled me aside and said, “You made a big impression with Dr. Bill. He’s been telling everyone you came in and owned it. Said he’s never had a rep do that before.” Apparently, I’d become the poster child for “sales rep integrity.” (not the role I was auditioning for that morning). Here’s the thing — mistakes happen. Even with checklists, careful preparation, and years of experience, something can slip. But how you handle it determines whether you lose a customer or gain their respect. If you screw up: ➡️ Own it fast. ➡️ Fix it completely if you can ➡️ Follow up to show it won’t happen again. People forgive honest mistakes. They don’t forgive excuses. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗮 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗮𝘄 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗮 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 — 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀?

When a leader makes a mistake, the best move is to acknowledge it—openly and quickly. Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn did just that this week after quarterback Jayden Daniels was injured late in a blowout loss. When asked why his starting QB was still in the game, Quinn didn’t dodge the question. He said simply: “Honestly, man, that’s where I missed it… That’s 100% on me.” He didn’t deflect, rationalize, or blame an assistant. He owned it. That’s not weakness—it’s leadership. In "The Mistakes That Make Us," I wrote that psychological safety starts when leaders model what it looks like to learn from mistakes rather than hide them. When a leader says, “That’s on me,” they make it safer for everyone else to say, “Here’s something I wish I’d done differently.” Admitting a mistake doesn’t undo the harm, but it opens the door to learning—and to preventing the next one. Pretending mistakes didn’t happen closes that door and locks everyone inside the status quo. Whether you’re coaching an NFL team, leading a hospital, or managing a small business, the principle is the same: accountability without blame is how teams improve. Dan Quinn’s public humility might not change the scoreboard, but it builds something much more important—a culture of trust and continuous improvement. How do you respond when you realize you’ve made a mistake as a leader—and how do your teams tend to react when you do?

Admitting a mistake isn’t weakness. It’s leadership in action. But most people avoid it. Not because they’re dishonest, but because they’re afraid of shame. Here’s what I’ve learned: You can own a mistake without owning self-blame. Here’s how to do it with strength and clarity: ❶ Name it without a story Don’t over-explain or deflect. Just say: “I got this wrong.” ❷ Take responsibility, not all the blame Own your part. Avoid the trap of over-apologizing. ❸ Share what you learned Mistakes are teachers, but only if we reflect on them. ❹ Make it right Ask: “What’s one step I can take to fix this?” Then take it. Follow through. ❺ Let it go Once you’ve made it right, release the guilt. Move forward. Mistakes don’t define you. How you handle them does. The most trusted leaders I know are not mistake-free. They’re just honest, humble, and human. ♻️ Repost to remind someone: Owning a mistake is a sign of wisdom, not weakness. Illustration by Roberto Ferraro

You can’t have a high-velocity, high-impact career without screwing up. I had multiple public screwups on my way to Amazon VP. The good news is that mistakes can help your career if you handle them right. Here is a formula: 1) Own it. 2) Fix it. 3) Communicate it. 4) Learn from it. 5) Move on. That really is it, but of course, each of those pieces has steps of its own. To own your mistake, you must be specific and direct. Tell your leadership what went wrong and why to the best of your knowledge. Tell them that it is on you to fix and how you will go about doing that. If you don’t know any of these details, tell them you don’t know and when they can expect an update. To fix the problem, consider what options you have based on new information. If time allows, pressure test these options by running them past one expert and one skeptic. Ask three questions: “What am I missing?” “What breaks first?” “What would have to be true for this to work?” Then, assign clear owners, clear expectations, and call in reinforcements. Get experts from other teams to help you—don’t be proud. Make small adjustments where possible, but don’t be afraid to roll it all back. Don’t be tied to old expectations or original ideas. Give your leadership and team a cadence for your updates, and stick to it. Frequent updates will help buy you time and win back trust piece by piece. When the crisis has been stopped and things have been fixed, reflect on what you have learned and share it. Then, move on. Dwelling on what you did wrong does not help your career, your mental health, or the business. Moving forward, setting new goals, and bouncing back helps all three. If you want a more in-depth lesson on how to mentally prepare to lead through crises, how to manage them, and how to recover, read this week’s newsletter: https://buff.ly/uZWsxLV Readers- what mistakes have you made that you were able to thrive through? How did you bounce back?

Regret your candour with the boss? Made a careless blunder that will cost the company a lot of money? Ignore a minor problem that now puts your credibility at risk? You’re not alone. Everyone I know makes mistakes. Many of them are also leaders, doers, trailblazers and have profit from making mistakes. James Joyce says mistakes are the portals of discovery and the management literature abounds with many articles advocating that mistakes can be a good thing. But there is a caveat - whilst making mistakes is part of working life, learning from them and managing their consequences requires integrity and skills. We all make mistakes and if managed poorly, mistakes will damage our reputation and career. This is especially true when we are at vulnerable points in our career like when we are just at the beginning of our career or starting a new role, or trying to win over a new manager. So how does one respond when one makes a significant mistake? Many wish the mistake would not be noticed, or are gripped by fear that prompts poor decisions. The key is to replace wishful thinking and fear with taking control of the situation. This can be achieved by a four-step approach. 1. Own up. But tread carefully especially if the company has a culture of blame-shifting - it's important to pick your moment and find allies. But whatever you do, own up before your hand is forced. And own up properly - admit the mistake and don't make excuses. 2. Improvement. Shift the focus from blaming people to improving processes by doing an objective assessment to identify root causes and process improvements so the same mistake will not happen again. Also articulate accurately the consequences of the mistake and recommend specific actions to mitigate its impact. 3. Permission. Share how you would implement the mitigation measures and improvements, and get approval to proceed. So from being the person who made the mistake, you become the person who eliminates mistakes. 4. Compassion. Have compassion for yourself. Recognise that A. mistakes likely happen when you strive for growth and push for performance, B. You can learn from this experience and reduce the chances of mistakes, Whilst we can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, we can learn, be better and never make the same mistake. Agree?

I just finished drafting my chapter on the power of apology, and I was inspired to share a few thoughts. Colleagues of mine won't be surprised by this topic.   Two words build credibility and trust, at least with me, faster than any explanation or excuse: “I apologize.”   10 years ago, I’d just stepped in as COO after a merger. We had just blown a deliverable and missed a client deadline. The room was quiet; it was filled with laptop tapping, side glances, and tension. I was new and didn't know whom I could count on; I was beginning to get frustrated. The team didn't know me well enough to trust me.   Then one colleague stepped up: “I apologize. This one’s on me. Here’s what I missed, and here’s how I’ll fix it by Friday.” The air changed immediately, and so did my confidence. That colleague instantly gained my trust and admiration.   I've long thought about situations like this and used it to check myself: am I doing enough to recognize a problem, realize my role in it, and take responsibility?   I think of this process as a humility maturity model: • Remiss → “I don’t see the problem.” • Recognition → “Something’s off; there's a problem.” • Realization → “I see my part in this problem.” • Responsibility (the chasm most never cross) → “I apologize; this piece is on me.” • Remedy → “Here’s what I’ll do, and by when.”   It's easy to be Remiss, oblivious to the situation; some get to Recognition that there's a problem but struggle with the Realization they had a hand in it; most don't cross the Realization-Responsibility Chasm; and a rare few showcase their accountability by delivering a Remedy.   Seeing the problem is intellect; owning it is character; fixing it is leadership.   After a miss, can I move from Realization to Responsibility plus a concrete Remedy in one breath? Might I get stuck at a lower rung? Have I created an environment with psychological safety that encourages this behavior in others?

Every one—every lawyer, every human—makes mistakes. If you’re a junior associate and you’ve realized you’ve made a mistake—maybe a typo in a filing, a missed detail, or something bigger—I want you to know: you are not alone, and you are not a failure. When I first started in big law, I was convinced that everyone else had it together. My brain lied to me: “No one else is doubting. No one else ever messes up.” That’s simply not true. Every attorney, no matter how senior, has a story about a mistake—one (and often more than one) that still makes them cringe, or laugh, or remember how much they blew it out of proportion. Here’s what I wish I’d known sooner: Mistakes are inevitable. They don’t define your value or your future. Most mistakes are fixable—if you act quickly, own them, and ask for help. The hardest part is often forgiving yourself and moving on. If you’re in that moment right now, here’s my framework: Breathe. Let yourself feel the disappointment, but set a timer if you need to—then move forward. Act. What happened? What’s the plan to fix it? Who can help? How do we avoid it in the future? Own it. Tell the senior associate or partner, apologize, share your plan to correct it, and your plan to prevent it next time. Move on. Don’t let one mistake become your whole story. You’re human, and so is everyone else. And to the managers and partners reading this: how you respond matters. I’ve experienced the reactions that made me want to hide mistakes rather than fix them. We can break that cycle. We can choose to be kind, to listen before reacting, to help fix the problem and turn it into a teaching moment. Most people want to do good work. Most associates won’t be repeat offenders. React from that place, and you’ll build trust, retain talent, and create stronger teams. Mistakes happen. What matters is how we handle them—both when we make them, and when someone brings one to us. That’s where real growth and real leadership live. ♥️✌🏻🔥 #LawyerWellbeing #Leadership #BigLaw #Mentorship #ProfessionalGrowth Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Husch Blackwell LLP or any other organization. Examples are generalized and do not reflect current client matters or firm positions.

When Leaders Make Mistakes: Turning Setbacks into Stepping Stones As leaders, we often feel pressure to be infallible, but the truth is, mistakes are an inevitable part of growth and leadership. It's not about avoiding errors entirely, but how we handle them that truly defines our leadership. ## Embracing Accountability The first step is to acknowledge the mistake promptly and take full responsibility. Transparency builds trust. Communicate openly about what happened, providing context and explaining your thought process. ## Learning and Growing View mistakes as valuable learning opportunities. Outline specific steps to correct the issue and prevent similar errors in the future. Encourage your team to share insights and improvements. ## Leading by Example By admitting our own mistakes, we create a psychologically safe environment where team members feel comfortable doing the same. This fosters a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. ## The Path Forward Remember, great leaders don't just bounce back from mistakes – they bounce forward. Use these experiences to refine your decision-making process and strengthen your leadership skills. Let's shift our perspective on mistakes. They're not career-enders, but rather opportunities for growth, learning, and ultimately, better leadership. What's your experience with handling mistakes as a leader? Share your thoughts in the comments below! #Leadership #PersonalGrowth #ProfessionalDevelopment

#Leadership Reinvented: How Mistakes Drive Success and Growth Mistakes are opportunities to grow, not failures. Success is about embracing and learning from them. Here’s how to lead through mistakes and turn them into powerful lessons: • Analyze Mistakes to Uncover Patterns and Insights Mistakes are data points in disguise. Break them down to identify recurring patterns or blind spots. Ask, What led to this error? Was it a flaw in judgment, process, or information? Use these insights to strengthen your decision-making and systems. • Depersonalize Decisions—Separate Ego from Outcomes Treat decisions as external processes, not personal reflections. This mindset allows for objective thinking and minimizes emotional biases. Remember, it’s not about being right; it’s about doing what’s right for your team and goals. • Encourage Dialogue While Setting Boundaries for Focus Create a culture where team members feel safe sharing concerns or feedback. Define areas of collaboration to keep discussions productive and focused. Open feedback fuels innovation, but clear boundaries maintain momentum. • Own Mistakes as a Leader and Credit Your Team for Success True leaders take responsibility for failures and credit their team for wins. This builds trust, fosters collaboration, and empowers teams to innovate without fear of blame. • Foster Humility to Welcome Feedback and Uncover Blind Spots Blind spots can only be revealed through others’ perspectives. Invite feedback, even when it’s challenging. Growth comes from listening, reflecting, and adapting to new information. Mistakes are not roadblocks—they are treasure maps leading to success. Leaders who embrace humility, self-awareness, and open dialogue will inspire trust, drive innovation, and achieve lasting growth. What mistake taught you the most about leadership? Share your story below! #Leadership #GrowthMindset #LearningFromMistakes #LeadershipDevelopment #Teamwork #Innovation #Success #DecisionMaking #HumbleLeadership #PersonalGrowth #LeadershipLessons #ProfessionalDevelopment #GrowthAndInnovation #DrGPT