Mistakes I Made at Work: 25 Influential Women Reflect on What They Got Out of Getting It Wrong

by Jessica Bacal

Doing good work requires learning to deal with defensive feelings.

Reflecting on moments when you wish you’d behaved differently can help you to develop as an ethical person.

We often blame our ignorance for our mistakes, but if you think of ignorance not as a passive condition but rather as an active choice, then it is actually quite empowering. Ignorance is an act of will, and so is knowledge. We can just as easily choose not to be ignorant. We can choose not to ignore the conditions of the world. We can take responsibility for our mistakes, rather than avoiding them, engage with our remorse, and stop living in fear and denial.

Developing a “growth mindset” can sustain you when you’re taking risks in your career.

My sixth-grade teacher seated us around our classroom room in IQ order. I grew up feeling like I could never let my guard down because I had to uphold the image of being “smart” all the time. Many years later, letting go of this allowed me to take the risks that were essential to growing both personally and professionally. I’ve learned that in order to develop into the people we want to become, we need to let go of our need for continual validation.

Understand that even though change isn’t always easy, each of us has the capacity to develop a “growth mindset” approach to our lives. When you have a “growth mindset,” you understand that mistakes and setbacks are an inevitable part of learning.