Owning our mistakes

“If you’re not in the arena getting your butt kicked too, I’m not interested in your feedback.“~Brene Brown

Everyone makes mistakes at work — in every field you can name. Some errors, however, are more public than others. If you’re a journalist or published author, for instance, the mistakes you make on the job are glaringly public and might remain in print forever. I recall times when I made errors that were, luckily, caught by sharp editors before they made it to print. But sometimes they weren’t caught — and I was humbled when my readers pointed them out. I learned early on that you really need to grow a thick skin in my profession.

As sociologist Brene Brown notes, if you’re going to put yourself out there, expect to get your ass kicked. If you don’t want your ass kicked in public, work in a field where you won’t get noticed as much.

To miss the mark or make a mistake is part of being imperfectly human — even if your errors aren’t on public display. If you’re lucky, people will forget or overlook the mistakes you made, especially if you handle them with a sincere apology and make the appropriate correction as quickly as possible. ~CL