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All managers make mistakes; good managers acknowledge and repair

(terriblesoftware.org)
308 points matheusml | 8 comments | 22 Aug 25 12:50 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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selecsosi ◴[22 Aug 25 13:29 UTC] No.44984445[source]▶
IME the gap in management between ICs is accountability. It's easy to say you are sorry, or say things won't happen again but good management, and what I strive to do is hold myself accountable.

To me, that means 1. To identify the issue that occurred (especially when you caused it), and much more importantly, 2. Put systems into place that prevent it from happening again.

Employees can feel very clearly when a manager lacks accountability and as part of mid and especially high level management (if your goal is actually improving both output and quality of people's lives) to not just say you did something wrong, but actually put your skin in the game ensuring what happened will not happen again (usually it means being better at saying no or aggressively managing prioritization rather than heaping additional tasks on people).

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1. a3w ◴[22 Aug 25 16:16 UTC] No.44986371[source]▶
Will a manager that acknowledges his/her/their mistakes get promoted as frequently, as if when downplaying them?
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2. ducttapecrown ◴[22 Aug 25 16:23 UTC] No.44986450[source]▶
Depends on if the managers above them are accountable or not. Accountability is the opposite of corruption and both need to come from the top.
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3. Loughla ◴[22 Aug 25 16:26 UTC] No.44986503[source]▶
My experience is that managers who acknowledge their mistakes are worse at office politics, so they will reach their peak sooner and lower than those that do not admit fault.

but that's anectdata, so grain of salt and all.

4. biomcgary ◴[22 Aug 25 16:37 UTC] No.44986605[source]▶
True, in traditional corporate structures. I'm interested in how accountability flows in cooperative structures like Mondragon. (Accountability still flows down through those at the top, as far as I can tell, but there is an aspect of bottom up accountability too.)
5. selecsosi ◴[22 Aug 25 16:48 UTC] No.44986744[source]▶
It hasn't unlocked a magical promotion track for me, but it has engendered support and respect from my teams that has allowed us to produce delivery exceeding what we thought we could because there was true buy in from the business around the definition of exceptional circumstances.

I'm not personally engineering my career in leadership around moving up, but building teams of people that can do exceptional things tends to be the driving factor that allows me to continue up the track.

6. zahrc ◴[22 Aug 25 16:59 UTC] No.44986902[source]▶
There is unfortunately no formula for it, apart from, play the game that senior management wants to be played.

I’d say, stick to your guns and find a job that supports your morales, not the other way around.

7. johngalt ◴[22 Aug 25 18:42 UTC] No.44988192[source]▶
Probably not, but some games it is better to lose.
8. ToDougie ◴[22 Aug 25 20:21 UTC] No.44989347[source]▶
I haven't seen it. What I have seen is the folks who lie and steal get promoted -- they all seem to be in a big club together. Blatant stealing, too. Here's an example: my team created a new product to address a time-constrained market opportunity. We basically did 99% of the work that two teams would normally do. A VP for those two teams then gets on stage and gives an award to his two teams for doing 100% of the work. My team is given no credit or mention.

Another VP gave an award to one of his teams for implementing a company-wide system. His team was actually one of the last adopters of the system that my team identified, implemented, refined, and delivered.

Anyways, they are running two different companies now.