Recently, I was speaking at a leadership conference and we had a technical glitch. The video I had planned to play suddenly did not work. If you do much public speaking you know that these things happen from time to time. It was what happened after my presentation that caused me to pause. David, the sound tech professional who was in charge of the event came up to me immediately after and said, "That was totally my fault,… I apologize". While the glitch was no big deal, the way this leader owned his mistake was big to me.
There are times when things go wrong on our watch. How we handle those mistakes reflects on our character and influence as a leader. More times than not, we see leaders who blame, point fingers or make excuses for failures or mistakes. This type of behavior sends the wrong message to our teams. It also degenerates our personal relationships and causes us to lose credibility. It takes courage and honesty to raise your hand and say, "I blew that". When that happens, it generally raises the level of respect that others have for us.
Thank you David, for reminding me that being a leader of influence requires us to own our mistakes. Choose to stand up and own your mistakes and you will make a difference!
Larry
