One of the qualities I appreciate most about leaders is their ability to acknowledge their mistakes.

When was the last time you heard a leader admit, “I blew it,” “I screwed up,” “It’s my fault, and I’m sorry and I apologize to all of you?”

How refreshing it is to hear when someone acknowledges making a mistake and takes full responsibility for it.

One of the questions I have sometimes asked when interviewing a candidate for a position is “Tell me about one of your greatest failures.”

I ask the question because you can often learn more about a person by listening to them talk about their failures than you can from hearing them talk about their successes. Only secure people are big enough to admit their failures.

In this politically charged environment, when was the last time you heard a politician echo those words: “I was wrong. I made a mistake, and I apologize?”

If you did, it was probably because he/she got caught doing something wrong, and was now trying to do damage control rather than openly and honestly admitting the mistake and without excuse taking full responsibility for it.

Simply put, when “we mess up we need to fess up.”

The more you do in life, the more you will fail, but the more you fail, the more you can learn if you are anxious and willing to admit those mistakes and learn from them.

Don’t chase after your mistakes, but be honest, and admit them, and learn from them realizing we all make them, and then move on.

“People will appreciate and learn from your example. They will respect you and you will build greater trust with them when they see you are honest and open about your mistakes,” writes, Dr. Nicole Limkin in Why You Need to Admit Your Mistakes and What Happens When You Don’t.

Honestly, transparency and vulnerability should be keywords in every leader’s vocabulary.

Rather than losing respect for someone who makes a mistake, I gain respect for the person who openly acknowledges it.

Believers should be especially aware of the importance of acknowledging our mistakes for as the apostle Peter writes “we are to “Confess (our) faults one to another, and pray one for another, that (we) may be healed” (James 5:16).

So, whether in the office, at home, or in church, be reminded of the value of honesty, transparency, and vulnerability in addressing your failures and mistakes.

And when you do make one, admit it and take ownership of it. Humble yourself and acknowledge your mistake and move on with your life. “Be humble and you won’t stumble.”

Note: General Peyton C. March wrote: “Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error.”