Jenni Russell's article (here)
about Theresa May's (UK minister) problems with admitting a mistake
highlights something important and paradoxical about modern politics -
the combination between wanting a human leader, but also an infallible
one. As the power of the label 'flip-flopper' shows in the US, there is
little that can do more damage to a politician's reputation than
admitting a mistake, or performing a u-turn.
But, this
is in stark contrast to normal life, where mistakes are accepted, and
it is the willingness to acknowledge, learn from and rectify them that
is what really matters. Indeed even in areas of expertise it is readily
admitted that one learns most not from what one does right, but from
what one does wrong.
Of course the power involved in politics means errors have real
human cost, and so must not be treated lightly, but this still doesn't
mean that when a course starts to go wrong, we value more highly leaders
who stick to their misguided guns than try to change direction.
What is needed is the ability of both sides, public and
politician, to appreciate that there are many kinds of mistakes, those
that are rooted in the past, and those that portend for the future.
Mistakes arising from incompetence, negligence, and even through fixed
ideologies, do indeed say something about the person involved, and how
likely the mistakes are to re-occur in the future. But mistakes made due
to trying to solve a probem with incomplete information, or a plausible
misinterpretation of th facts, are not necessarily something which
means the person involved cannot be relied upon, or, more importantly,
that someone else would do better. What is important is whether that person will do better, and admitting mistakes is part of that.
Bill Clinton is someone who has impressed me more and more since
he left office, in large part I think because without the need to
constantly cover himself politically, he can reveal some of his
qualities which may have been misinterpreted as a politician. For
example to hear him talk about subjects without caging his words,
reveals how he is actually very thoughftul and intellectual, but had
hidden this under a 'good old guy' demeanour. So I am not that surprised
to see him espouse exactly the sort of mentality that is needed (in all
walks of life) :
Bill Clinton has a new mantra. Once a day, as he told an audience this week,
he makes it a rule to find a reason to say "I didn't know that" and "I
was wrong". He takes it so seriously that if the opportunity doesn't
come up naturally, he creates one.
We could all do worse, then being honest about needing to do better.
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