When You Make a Mistake

1) Admit it fast!

2) Apologize.

3) Make sure the critical folks know about it.

Everyone makes mistakes and some people really screw up. I find that if you admit it and apologize, it disarms people and takes the heat out of the issue, argument, or situation.

The best (probably the only) thing to do: admit your mistake, and if a simple “I’m sorry” doesn’t do it, come up with a plan that tells when and how you are going to fix it.

The thing that drives me a little crazy is when I know someone messed up, and they won’t take accountability for the mistake. Then I want to keep working the issue with them until they get it. And the harder they dig in, the more I want them to admit they did something really wrong. Okay, maybe that is “my issue,” but I stand by the advice to apologize. If someone says, “I screwed up—really badly—but I am working on how to fix it,” I find I have a greater tolerance and even try to help them.

The worst thing in business is to find out later that someone gave you wrong information and never came back and corrected themselves, or they screwed something up and never told anyone. Losing trust is the worst thing a person can do.

I had a great operations executive working with me. The vast majority of the time everything was handled without my input. But over the years, there were some critical times when he walked into the office and said, “Houston, we have a problem.” Somehow, someone screwed up badly. But honest and open communication, and bringing the mistake to the forefront as soon as possible, was invariably the best way to handle it.