Growth Mindset Isn’t Just for Safe Spaces: Leadership Through Failure

As a leader, an employee, a friend, a spouse, a parent, and a son, I’ve made mistakes. Big ones. Painful ones. And one of the earliest lessons I learned is this: contrition, recognition, and ownership of mistakes are the only viable responses.

Owning up doesn’t guarantee forgiveness. It doesn’t erase the mistake or immediately make things right. But it does allow lessons to be learned and rebuilding to begin—sooner rather than later.

We often talk about “growth mindsets” and creating “safe places to fail.” Those are valuable concepts, but in my experience, those environments are often more about practice than real-world application. What matters most isn’t the specific “thing” we learn to do better—whether that’s teaching differently, handling a call more skillfully, or remembering to carry the 9 next time. The real takeaway is the habit we build: the competency of admitting failure, learning from it, and moving forward.

In the real world, the stakes are higher, and the consequences can feel sharper. It’s not always a safe place to fail. But that’s the point: leadership, self-assurance, and integrity mean using your misstep as a springboard for growth—not just for yourself but for everyone around you.

This reflection comes to mind because I just read a public apology from an organization’s board of directors for a major misstep that happened 90 days ago. Ninety days. This was their first acknowledgment. And it was too late .

Had they addressed the situation right away—acknowledged it and taken ownership—they could have recovered. It was entirely possible. Instead, it festered. Gossip spread. The issue ended up in the newspaper. Now, this apology, which might have worked 89 days ago, is just fuel for more frustration.

And yet, I’m still grateful for it. I wish the organization well. They’ll likely face repercussions for both the original misstep and the “too little, too late” response. But their public apology serves as a powerful reminder to me: the importance of practicing a growth mindset, even when it feels unsafe.

Leadership isn’t about perfection. It’s about how we navigate our imperfections—and how we use them to move forward.