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The higher the stakes, the more opportunities there are for learning – and, of course, the more opportunities there are for failures and mistakes.

…if you don’t make mistakes, you aren’t trying hard enough. But as mistakes are necessary, so is a healthy organizational attitude toward them.

Fake memories all ow people to forgive themselves and justify their mistakes, but sometimes at a high price: an inability to take responsibility for their lives.

None of us like learning that we were wrong, that our memories are distorted or confabulated, or that we made an embarrassing professional mistake.

If the person who admits mistakes or harm is a business or political leader, you will probably feel reassured that you are in the capable hands of someone big enough to do the right thing…

Whatever the error, sin, or mistake, apologies fail when listeners know that the speaker has to say something to reassure the public but the statement feels formulaic and obligatory…

There are plenty of good reasons for admitting mistakes, starting with the simple fact that you will probably be found out anyway…

…if you can admit a mistake when it is the size of an acorn, it will be easier to repair than if you wait until it becomes the size of a tree, with deep, wide-ranging roots.

Because most of us are not automatically self-correcting and because our blind spots keep us from knowing when we need to be, external procedures must be in place to correct the errors that human beings will inevitably make and reduce the chances of future ones.

[Americans] think that making mistakes means they are stupid. That belief is precisely what keeps them from learning from their mistakes.