Monday, April 6, 2009

Confidence and Saying "I was Wrong"

Remember "Happy Days" and the "Fonz"... He found it very difficult to admit he was "WRRRROOOOOONNNNNNNN.....". I also found this difficult when I was younger.

Strangely, I found it much easier to admit when I was WRONG as my confidence grew and I got wiser. Three companies, a dozen positions, hundreds of co-workers, dozens of classes, a wife, 3 kids and thousands of mistakes probably helped me learn this. The other thing I learned was that you can really build relationships by saying the second part... (ie I was wrong and you were correct) It is amazing how much this is appreciated by people.

With this in mind, I am wondering why politicians, companies, schools, people etc only seem to spread the positive news/facts. Has our society become so litigious or intolerant of human mistakes that admitting errors is just too risky ? Or do these folks suffer from the "Fonz" syndrome? Wouldn't we respect and trust people that more candid ? Or would we crucify them ?

By the way, you may guess that I still need some pretty good facts to help me see my errors. However, I will happily apologize and give credit to the correct party as credit is due.

1 comment:

Christine said...

I have to give credit to Helen Bassett. Last night, at the school board listening session, she apologized to some parents who were there to share that they were blind-sided by the attendance area changes due to the "right sizing."