I received a message from my coach, Rich Litvin, the other day, and it really resonated with me. I believe this is an important leadership insight: often, when people get defensive and make excuses, it stems from an underlying insecurity.
How do you handle this when it happens in your team? And how do you deal with it when you catch yourself doing the same?
My biggest takeaway from this message is that it’s okay to screw up. It’s okay to change plans.
It’s okay to have disagreements.
At least as long as you reflect on it and clean up the mess you leave behind. Most importantly, don’t forget to apologize.
Here’s the original message:
This week, I screwed up. I broke the trust of a good friend.
I wanted to get defensive.
I wanted to make excuses.
I wanted to make them the bad guy.But I realized I could lose my friendship, so I caught myself.
And I apologized.
Fully.
I held nothing back.I love the book, “The Four Agreements.” But I think the commitment “Be impeccable with your word” is too high a bar for most humans.
Sometimes I screw up.
But then I clean up.
Keeping your word but cleaning up when you break it is an important distinction to live by.Your turn: How have you broken your word in the past 30 days, and how could you clean up?
Rich Litvin
