Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and goalajiving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellovaledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode six seventy three. I want to give you
Speaker 2: something today that sounds almost too simple to matter. One sentence,
Speaker 2: one habit, one line that if you use it the
Speaker 2: right way and use it often, will change your leadership
Speaker 2: faster than another training, another book, or another meeting. Here
Speaker 2: it is I was wrong. That's it. Three words that
Speaker 2: most leaders avoid, delay or replace with corporate buzzwords that
Speaker 2: nobody believes. Let me tell you why this matters, because
Speaker 2: leadership is not built on perfection. It's built on credibility,
Speaker 2: and credibility is built in moments where people are watching
Speaker 2: you closely, especially when something goes sideways. Think about your
Speaker 2: last mistake. Did you explain it away, did you soften it?
Speaker 2: Did you blame the system, the timing, the team, the budget.
Speaker 2: Did you dress it up so it didn't sound like
Speaker 2: a mistake, or did you say clearly and directly, I
Speaker 2: was wrong. Most leaders don't say it enough. Some never
Speaker 2: say it at all, and their team knows it. Here's
Speaker 2: what happens when you avoid those three words. Your team
Speaker 2: starts to protect themselves instead of doing their best work.
Speaker 2: They stop bringing you problems early because they assume you
Speaker 2: will defend your position instead of listening. They start managing
Speaker 2: around you instead of through you. And that is how
Speaker 2: trust erods, not in one big moment, in one hundred
Speaker 2: small moments where the leader chose ego over ownership. Now,
Speaker 2: let's flip it. Picture a leader who says I was wrong.
Speaker 2: No excuses, no long explanation, no defensive tone, just ownership.
Speaker 2: What does that do It lowers the temperature in the
Speaker 2: room immediately. It tells your team that accountability is real,
Speaker 2: not something you only expect from them. It creates space
Speaker 2: for honest conversation instead of guarded communication. And here's the
Speaker 2: part most leaders miss. When you say I was wrong,
Speaker 2: you don't lose authority. You gain it because authority is
Speaker 2: not about always being right, it's about being trusted when
Speaker 2: it matters. Let's talk about frequency. This is not a
Speaker 2: once a year's statement. This is not something you pull
Speaker 2: out during a major failure to save face. Great leaders
Speaker 2: say this often, not because they're reckless or careless because
Speaker 2: they're paying attention. They review their decisions, they reflect on outcomes.
Speaker 2: They listen when someone on their team challenges an idea,
Speaker 2: and when they see a miss they call it out themselves.
Speaker 2: That's discipline, that's leadership. You want to know one of
Speaker 2: the fastest ways to build a culture of accountability model
Speaker 2: it in real time. You can stand in front of
Speaker 2: your team and talk about accountability all day long. You
Speaker 2: can write policies, you can enforce standards. None of that
Speaker 2: will matter if your team never sees you own your
Speaker 2: own mistakes, because culture is not what you say, it
Speaker 2: is what you demonstrate. Now let's go deeper. There are
Speaker 2: levels to this. Level one is saying I was wrong.
Speaker 2: Level two is saying I was wrong, and here is
Speaker 2: what I learned. Level three is saying I was wrong,
Speaker 2: here's what I learned, and here is what we're going
Speaker 2: to do differently. That's where transformation has happens, because now
Speaker 2: you're not only owning the mistake, you're turning it into
Speaker 2: a forward move. You're showing your team how to process
Speaker 2: failure without hiding from it. Let me give you a
Speaker 2: real world application. You roll out a new process it
Speaker 2: doesn't work, your team struggle with struggles with it. Productivity drops,
Speaker 2: frustration goes up. And you have two choices. You can
Speaker 2: double down and defend the decision. You can say the
Speaker 2: team needs more time, more effort, more discipline. Or you
Speaker 2: can walk in and say I was wrong about how
Speaker 2: we implemented this. We're going to adjust. Which leader do
Speaker 2: you want to follow? Here? Which leader are people going
Speaker 2: to give their best effort to? It's not even close.
Speaker 2: Here's another angle. When you say I was wrong, you
Speaker 2: give your team permission to do the same. And that's
Speaker 2: powerful because now mistakes come to the surface faster, problems
Speaker 2: get solved earlier, conversation get more honest. You eliminate the
Speaker 2: fear that keeps teams stuck. You replace it with the responsibility.
Speaker 2: Now let's address the pushback. Some leaders think saying I
Speaker 2: was wrong makes them look weak, and that is outdated thinking.
Speaker 2: Week leaders hide, strong leaders own week leaders protect their image.
Speaker 2: Strong leaders protect the mission, and your team can tell
Speaker 2: the difference every single time. And here's something else to
Speaker 2: think about. If you're not saying I was wrong on
Speaker 2: a regular basis, one of two things is happening. Either
Speaker 2: you are not paying attention to your own decisions, or
Speaker 2: you're not being honest about them. Neither one is acceptable
Speaker 2: in leadership. You're going to get things wrong. This is
Speaker 2: part of the job. The question is not if. The
Speaker 2: question is what you do next. Now, I want to
Speaker 2: give you a challenge for the next seven days. I
Speaker 2: want you to listen to yourself. Listen to how you
Speaker 2: respond when something doesn't go as planned. Do you explain,
Speaker 2: do you deflect, do you minimize or do you own it?
Speaker 2: And when you see the opportunity take it, say the
Speaker 2: words I was wrong, Keep it clean, keep it direct,
Speaker 2: no extra noise around it. Then follow it with what
Speaker 2: you learned and what you're going to change. If you
Speaker 2: do this consistently, something interesting will happen. Your team will
Speaker 2: start to trust you faster, Your conversations will get sharper,
Speaker 2: your decisions will improve because you're no longer trying to
Speaker 2: protect them. You're trying to get them right, and that
Speaker 2: is a completely different mindset. This is one of those
Speaker 2: leadership moves that cost you nothing and gives you everything.
Speaker 2: No budget required, no approval needed, no rollout plan, just
Speaker 2: discipline and one honesty and the willingness to put your
Speaker 2: ego in the back seat so your leadership can move forward.
Speaker 2: So here is your takeaway. The one thing every great
Speaker 2: leader says often is not a slogan, it's not a speech,
Speaker 2: it's not something you print on a wall. It is
Speaker 2: three simple words, I was wrong. Say it when it matters,
Speaker 2: say it when it's uncomfortable, Say it before someone else
Speaker 2: has to say it for you, because the moment you
Speaker 2: own it is the moment your leadership gets stronger. This
Speaker 2: has been the seven Minute Leadership Podcast, and I thank
Speaker 2: you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more, Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.