Grow Wherever You Work: Straight Talk to Help with Your Toughest Challenges

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When Your Mistake Feels Colossal

In a job interview, you’re asked about a failure, but they don’t really mean it. Senior leaders brush off the question too, modestly professing too many to recall—all small, of course! Experts proclaim that failures are a badge of innovation courage to be celebrated. But failure is not like success for one obvious reason: it’s painful. The scars last for a long time. Anybody who tells you otherwise is spouting nonsense.

A mistake is a cousin of failure, a pint-sized learning opportunity. Though short-lived, mistakes are painful too. They bring on shame, embarrassment, remorse, anger. Often, they’re joined by fears: we’re imposters, we’re not worthy, we let others down. To squelch fears, we’d do anything to ...