Owning Your Mistakes

Ever screw something up at work?

Everyone has.

So do you own up to your mistake, or do you try and hide it?

Maybe there's another option.

For example, let’s say I operate a frozen pea factory and we run out of peas. I’d tell the workers, “Just fill the bags up with anything you can find for now and I’ll deal with it later.”

"Anything?"

"Yep. Anything that adds weight.”

But of course I totally forget so when I hear about it later I haven’t prepared well enough to defend myself.

"Calm down," I say. "Start with telling me what was in the bags."

"What the fuck does it matter what was in the bags!?" shouts the distributor. "They sure as shit weren’t filled with peas!"

"John. Listen to me.”

"No, YOU listen to ME dammit!"

As he continues on about lawsuits and damage estimates, I take a moment to daydream about a shipment of peas that arrives just minutes before John confronts me in person to close down my factory.

"You’re lucky," he tells me.

"And you’re not," I say, pulling out a tiny pistol that uses frozen peas or soybeans as ammo.

I fire several times, peppering John’s face and midsection, but even in my dream the pea gun is a useless novelty item incapable of inflicting any real damage. Stunned, he charges at me and we wrestle on the floor of my office until I snap out of my daydream.

Of course when John finally does show up at my office in reality, I don’t actually try to kill him with a pea gun. Instead, I hide by the door and smash a vase over his head.

Previous
Previous

A Winning Culture

Next
Next

Next Steps