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saying “You were right, I was wrong.” It didn’t destroy her reputation; it rescued it. [...] Wayne Hale took full responsibility: “The bottom line is that I failed to understand what I was being told…I am guilty of allowing Columbia to crash.” He was promoted. When JFK admitted the responsibility for the Bay of Pigs fiasco was “mine, and mine alone,” his poll numbers soared

I would guess that the survivorship bias is at play here. How many people we will never hear about took responsibility and were demoted, fired or prosecuted?




Not only that, but Aaron seems to be skating perilously close to the position that admitting that you screwed up is, in itself, sufficient reason for you to be promoted. It's not.




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