I recently wrote something wrong on the internet.
Given some responses, it may have been the first time some people have encountered such a blunder.
Other engagements were incredibly classy and showed intellectual fortitude.
For my part, I learnt a lot, quickly admitted my error, and was grateful for the learning opportunity.
To put the magnitude of my error in context, my posts garner about 30 views each.
So I didn't really expect anyone to notice.
And to care?
No way!
As Murphy's Law predicts, the peanut butter side hit the ground first and thousands of total strangers witnessed my humiliation.
It was an opportunity to eat plenty of crow with a generous side of humble pie.
It also pushed me to reflect on whether to remove such an embarrassment.
I chose to leave it up.
From public to private motivations, here is my thinking.
Signposts and Conversation
The principle "show your work" outside of an academic setting is important because it leaves sign posts for others.
Sometimes the signpost must say, "Pay attention! Not this way!"
This relates to the idea of where science is done.
Because all of us in the Western intellectual world learn the scientific method starting in grade school, we commonly believe that the method is science.
A different perspective suggests that the scientific method is really the way to find ideas worth bringing to the table where science happens.
Science actually happens in the journals, water cooler conversations, seminars, conferences and so on.
It is in these forums where the ideas discovered and sharpened in the lab are discussed, questioned, accepted or rejected.
The parallel in the business world is the entrepreneurial method from Dr. Saras Sarasvathy.
It also lays out the principles for coming up with and refining a business idea.
The business occurs, though, when entrepreneurs go beyond ideation and enter the marketplace to face customers.
The exchange of ideas (or goods/services) between people of good will is the basis of good science and business.
Being right is not the prerequisite for, but the outgrowth of, the exchange.
Growth v Fixed Mindsets
I don't write a lot about science, being much more interested in business.
Writing about the emerging business of space, one of the great unexplored parts of the universe, I naturally run into science, though.
I'm neither an academic nor do I hold myself out as an expert.
I don't have the resources, intellectual or financial, to join in the conversations of science.
Instead, I am an enthusiast and an outsider.
Still, I believe a perspective like mine in the marketplace of ideas has value.
The detached, objective language of scientific reporting can obscure the wonder to the average reader.
Yet at its root and throughout its history, those motivated by a sense of wonder have been at the beating heart of science.
Modelling a sense of awe as an outsider stands as an invitation to join in the exploration of our world, much of which still stands as a mystery.
Inspiration, sadly, doesn't stop me from making mistakes.
When errors happen, displaying a growth mindset,
which believes in progress and joy in learning
rather than the rote regurgitation of "the correct answer" is a
crucial aspect of the type of education we increasingly desire our children to learn.
Concrete examples of such a mindset in action should themselves prove useful.
Personal Evolution
It would be much easier to delete the tweet and pretend the whole thing never happened.
And honestly, it's my first impulse:
bury the past and hope everyone forgets and moves on.
Easy, though, does not lead where I'm aiming to arrive.
To be congruent with who I am as a learner means modelling the ability to make mistakes without being crushed by them.
While I may forget, and pretend others also forget, we live in the internet age, where nothing is forgotten.
Every day, people arrive at important junctures in their lives only to face opposition brandishing something they imagined deleted, dead, and done.
Should I ever get to that place, I want the public record to not only show my error but also the response so the future judges the past in context.
In the meantime, the content stands as a memorial reminding me to
be more cautious with my words,
consider other opinions more carefully, and
stay humble.
My chosen spiritual tradition teaches responding properly to errors can transform them into deeds of worth.
This idea is the source in the Western intellectual corpus of the efficacy of an apology.
Realizing mistakes,
admitting them, and
growing out of them can sometimes
redeem them.
In my striving to be a better person, rather than take the easy out, I strive towards those actions which turn lead inputs into gold outputs.
Thoughts?
In the end, this approach may still be incorrect.
What has your approach to mistakes been in the past?
What responses do you recommend and why?
I'd be delighted to hear from you!