Being confident and decisive in decision-making is important for leadership; a strong decision is usually better than none at all. Even if the decision is the wrong one, it’s usually better to take that step forward and correct course as necessary. Besides, the right decision is always clearer in hindsight, but it’s how you respond to failure and being wrong that is important.
Still, there’s something to be said for overconfidence in your own decisions and not listening to those with the experience who could better inform your decision-making processes. You see this all the time, where brash, arrogant even, new managers come swaggering in and start making cost-saving changes like they know what’s best, without first stopping to ask those with first-hand experience.
The most surprising thing about this story is that the boss was actually humbled by his mistake, and not only was he willing to admit that a mistake had been made, but that he had made it, and that the employee had known better and had provided sound advice on the situation.
How many other times in our lives and in our work would we, or someone else, let our ego get in the way and refuse to accept that we had made a mistake, either brushing it under the rug and never mentioning it again, where it would probably fester and become an even bigger problem? Or otherwise double down on the mistake and insist that we had been right somehow, and really the people who advised us correctly.
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