Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft at the time, once said the above quote. In the fiscal fourth quarter of 2023, the iPhone generated 43.81 billion dollars in sales. Talk about a mistake. A miscalculation. A miss. So, if you said something or did something that was a mistake, it’s okay. But since we are not all Steve Ballmer’s with golden parachutes – you have to own it. And then pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and try again. Innovation, great ideas, and the next best thing will not happen if everyone doesn’t try again. That’s called resilience. And if the walls are still standing and the employees and customers are still breathing – forgiveness is the most powerful tool you can use.

Learning: If you continue trying new things, some will fail, and some will be your best self/work. Keep trying.

References and Resources

Apple’s iPhone revenue from 3rd quarter 2007 to 4th quarter 2023 by Statistica; Type Article

Microsoft’s Lost Decade by Kurt Eichenwald/Vanity Fair; Type: Article

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Have you ever made a mistake at work (Loaded question)? How did you recover? We’d love to hear from you.

You hit SEND. And then…Oh boy, you realize that you just made a HUGE mistake – you didn’t mean to do that. Did you just “reply all”? Why, yes. Yes, you did. Ok, so you do a quick damage assessment. Did you say something snarky? Should you “reply all” again with a retraction of some sort? Mind Swirling. Swirling. Swirling.

Learning: You’ll be OK – every single person has done that. In general, an apology is the best way to address the mistake. Ultimately, your coworkers will forgive and quickly forget unless you went to the dark side in your original message.

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Does this resonate with you? Has this ever happened to you? We’d love to hear from you.