Left unresolved, the consequences of more substantial mistakes do not fade, they get bigger.

When you make a mistake, speak up right away. This develops your courage and clears the air. It enables all involved to move toward solutions rather than assign blame.

There is great freedom in owning your mistakes. Your courage and maturity in this process allows you to grow and become a better leader.

You may or may not be at fault for the mistake, but if you are the leader, you are responsible. Take full ownership.

Your work environment makes a difference in your ability to own your mistakes. A healthy, growth-oriented culture that understands mistakes are part of learning and maturing, is a gift to your growth as a leader.

Wisdom over time reveals that a long list of proclaimed convictions makes for shallow commitment and can lead to hypocrisy.

Don’t allow yourself to be held hostage by public opinion; commit to deep convictions based your personal values.

Accepting mistakes as part of leadership is not permission to be sloppy, fail to think or make foolish shallow plans. It is an awareness that taking risks, making decisions, and leading change can never be perfected.

Helpful insights are offered in this post, from the complexity of defining a mistake to principles that define your leadership:

Here is a practical set of 5 steps to handle a mistake in a healthy way:

Small or large, mistakes are common to anyone who is truly leading. The important thing is how we handle them.

If you aren’t making mistakes, you are playing it too safe and may not be truly leading.

The Top 10 Leadership Articles I Read The Week Of January 12th https://t.co/0x07X2xbnA Thank you Brian, always an honor. Like you, investing in others feeds my soul.

Being stuck in a rut may be comfortable, but it’s never fulfilling.

Don’t let the comfort of familiar pain prevent you from embracing the unknown discomfort of positive change.

The Top 10 Leadership Articles I Read The Week Of January 5th https://t.co/pkmHLcHepS Love getting this weekly set. Never disappointed. There is always golden wisdom that speaks to me. Find your gold!

Life has taught us that we can’t go around pain, we must go through it – and God is in it with us.

Life will become dull like a dusty trophy on a shelf, without the newness of God’s continual transformation in us and His Kingdom work through us.

We need to let go of many of our “trophies” in life so not to become stuck in the past, stop growing, and miss what God has planned.

If God grants us any successes in life, our best response is gratitude, and readiness for our next assignment. But we must also exercise caution to find a healthy balance between appreciating the success and becoming owned by it.