When we fail, we often conceal it, distort it, or deny it. We make the facts fit our self-serving theory rather than adjust the theory to fit the facts. We attribute our failure to factors beyond our control. In our own failures, we overestimate the role of bad luck (“Better luck next time”). We blame the failure on someone else (“She got the job because the boss likes her more”). We come up with a few superficial reasons for why things went south (“If only we had more cash reserves”). But personal culpability seldom makes the list.
