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I wish more people knew this… it actually works amazing. Taking responsibility for your mistakes and, better yet, explaining exactly what went wrong and how you

by _yb2s 2y ago

I wish more people knew this… it actually works amazing. Taking responsibility for your mistakes and, better yet, explaining exactly what went wrong and how you will prevent it in the future almost always turns out better, and builds more respect and trust than trying to deny or shift the blame as is usually done. Learning this radically improved my career progression, and personal relationships. It also takes the power away from people that would use it to manipulate or control you.

matwood 2y ago
It's important to note what you're describing is taking real ownership of your screw ups. Like you said, that means doing what you can fix them and prevent them from happening again. Simply saying 'that's on me' and doing nothing to change isn't what's meant here. And yes, I have done this my whole career and it works.
- _yb2s 2y ago
  Good point- I often see, especially in corporate press releases about security incidents, etc. an apology (often without even directly saying they are responsible- or with a company but no actual individual people taking responsibility), but then no explanation of what they are actually changing to fix the problem. Or there will be a “designated fall guy” who was not personally involved but is apparently paid with a prearranged “golden parachute” to resign and take the blame, which is just a deflection strategy to avoid actually taking responsibility while appearing to do so.
inferiorhuman 2y ago
That works for American aviation because there's a strong culture of avoiding blame. Instead of taking punitive action the usual course is to look for a root cause and how to avoid it. That extends as far as drug/alcohol use where if you miss a flight because you've checked yourself into whatever program you're pretty much guaranteed to keep your job. Show up drunk though and you'll find yourself in jail. There's an interesting discussion on an aviation forum about landing in an unapproved situation. The question was whether the response should be termination or training. Lots of folks weighed in, favoring termination. However lots of those same folks pointed out that their employers had a no-fault go around policy — as in you probably wouldn't even have to fill out paperwork for aborting a landing. Own up to whatever mistakes, go around, and land safely – nobody cares. Double down on unsafe behavior, nobody's going to want to fly with you.
- _yb2s 2y ago
  Such a culture is nearly essential to actually do real high stakes things- there is really no other way to operate in any field where the consequences of failure are immediate death, which isn’t limited to aviation. Only in fields where the people have no real skin in the game do people get away with not taking personal responsibility.
kelnos 2y ago
It also depends on the severity of the consequences of the error. If people had died or been seriously injured in that water landing, I don't think Asoh's "I fucked up" acknowledgement/apology would have saved him from getting fired, or at the very least getting the same demotion, but with a longer and more difficult road to reattaining his Captain title.

by _yb2s 2y ago

matwood 2y ago

It's important to note what you're describing is taking real ownership of your screw ups. Like you said, that means doing what you can fix them and prevent them from happening again. Simply saying 'that's on me' and doing nothing to change isn't what's meant here. And yes, I have done this my whole career and it works.

_yb2s 2y ago
Good point- I often see, especially in corporate press releases about security incidents, etc. an apology (often without even directly saying they are responsible- or with a company but no actual individual people taking responsibility), but then no explanation of what they are actually changing to fix the problem. Or there will be a “designated fall guy” who was not personally involved but is apparently paid with a prearranged “golden parachute” to resign and take the blame, which is just a deflection strategy to avoid actually taking responsibility while appearing to do so.

inferiorhuman 2y ago

That works for American aviation because there's a strong culture of avoiding blame. Instead of taking punitive action the usual course is to look for a root cause and how to avoid it. That extends as far as drug/alcohol use where if you miss a flight because you've checked yourself into whatever program you're pretty much guaranteed to keep your job. Show up drunk though and you'll find yourself in jail. There's an interesting discussion on an aviation forum about landing in an unapproved situation. The question was whether the response should be termination or training. Lots of folks weighed in, favoring termination. However lots of those same folks pointed out that their employers had a no-fault go around policy — as in you probably wouldn't even have to fill out paperwork for aborting a landing. Own up to whatever mistakes, go around, and land safely – nobody cares. Double down on unsafe behavior, nobody's going to want to fly with you.

_yb2s 2y ago
Such a culture is nearly essential to actually do real high stakes things- there is really no other way to operate in any field where the consequences of failure are immediate death, which isn’t limited to aviation. Only in fields where the people have no real skin in the game do people get away with not taking personal responsibility.

kelnos 2y ago

It also depends on the severity of the consequences of the error. If people had died or been seriously injured in that water landing, I don't think Asoh's "I fucked up" acknowledgement/apology would have saved him from getting fired, or at the very least getting the same demotion, but with a longer and more difficult road to reattaining his Captain title.