To Err is Human

Office dynamics fascinate me. I feel like Jane Goodall living amongst the chimps. I'm one of them, but at the same time, sometimes I feel like I'm not quite assimilated yet - still watching from the sidelines.

Today's topic is accountability. It seems like a lot of actions are motivated by people pushing responsibility out of their hands. In fact, I recently learned a new acronym for this: CYA (Cover Your Ass). That way, if there is a mistake, hopefully you'll be able to dig through old email chains or other forms of communication and push that mistake onto someone else. And when a mistake does get called out, replies are often littered with "we felt...", which also diffuses responsibility.

Today I was called out for a mistake. I had no one but myself to blame it on. But I wouldn't blame it on anyone else even if I could. I was always taught to own up to my own errors, so much so that it might even be a fault in the business world. So yes, everybody knew it was my mistake.

However, on the call with the client, my manager took ownership of the error. There was no "we screwed up", no finger pointing, not even an attempt to cover it up. Everyone from my company knew that it was my mistake, but no one on the client side knew the difference. Perhaps it is a common business practice that accountability eventually travels up the hierarchy, but I'm certainly not used to having other people take the blame for something I did wrong.

Common business procedures aside, I've taken this as a cue that I should be more honest about my own mistakes. This resolution might end up hurting me in the future, but I don't want to be one of those people who make vague statements about errors without attributing responsibility of those errors to anyone. It's not who I am nor is it someone I would want to become. I'd rather take ownership of my own mistakes because I feel better knowing that I deserve whatever consequences might befall me from those mistakes.

Though on the flip-side, my manager's prospective is to celebrate the acknowledgment of errors. Because once a mistake is acknowledged, it's much easier to learn from it. I've never heard that before, but I can certainly get behind that perspective.

Winning the game of Life

Sometimes things just work out better than you could've ever hoped for or planned. If this is the case, perhaps it's best to push pessimism aside and just chalk it up as a win because you know there'll be a time in the future when you're on your knees questioning "Why Me?". That's when you look back at one of the good times and neutralize your self-pity.

My Introvert Advantage

I finished reading The Introvert Advantage by Marti Laney about a month ago in hopes that I would be able to pick up lessons on how to suppress my introversion when it's necessary. I agree with a lot of things said in the book. I get drained when trying to be social. Don't get me wrong, I can be social when necessary, but I need time to myself afterward to recharge my energy.

However, the farther I got into the book, the more I realized that my introversion doesn't even compare to some other people's. I never realized that I could possibly be more of a moderate introvert. On the scale of extrovert to introvert, I must fall somewhere close to the center. There were several statements in the book that just didn't quite apply to me.

Introversion must be a product of one's natural genes and the environment in which one grew up. I get the sense that I could've been a very different person had it not been for the friends that I've decided to surround myself with or for my nature to want to continuously challenge myself and push myself outside my comfort zone. Without those, I do think my laziness and awkwardness could've left me as one of those who sat at home and spent way too much time on the internet in order to avoid social situations save with very close friends. Instead, I discovered that I love meeting new people, and the more I go out and experience new things, the more open I am to new ideas.

I think a great example of the type of introvert I am comes from the pitch to a pretend client that my entire department at work had to participate in. The pitch was to win the digital advertising business of a fake new cigarette that's non-toxic, non-addictive, and healthy. Like many introverts, I'm not one to outwardly display my emotions. In fact, I'm pretty sure no one could tell I was extremely excited about the project unless they really knew me. I couldn't even tell just how excited I was until I volunteered to be one of two people presenting the pitch in front of the entire team and a group of judges (three very senior-level people). I was completely out of my comfort zone. The presentation made me quiver just thinking about it, but my excitement, the adrenaline, and my love of taking on new challenges helped me overcome my stage fright.

While I might not be the huge introvert I once thought I was, I was still able to take away one lesson from the book - I can't become who I want to be by simply reading a book. I was privileged to have the environment to push me to do the steps in the book pretty early on in life, and if I continue to be myself, I'll end up satisfied with who I am. I'm already pretty happy with the person I'm shaping up to be.