“透視領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力”（The Leadership Insider）是一個在線社區(qū)，一些最睿智、最有影響力的商界大佬會在這里及時回答有關(guān)職業(yè)生涯和領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力的問題。今天的問題是：工作中犯下大錯之后，應(yīng)該怎么補(bǔ)救？答問者是非盈利慈善組織Technology For Families in Need的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人沙丹·德勒沃。

既然已經(jīng)搞砸了，接下來怎么辦？

多年前我還是個年輕的營銷員，有一次得到了管理護(hù)發(fā)品牌的機(jī)會，可把我激動壞了。以公司的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)看，那是個小品牌，一年?duì)I業(yè)收入才幾百萬美元，但盈利能力已經(jīng)很可觀，最重要的是那個品牌由我來運(yùn)營。當(dāng)時我剛念完工商管理碩士，感覺終于有機(jī)會施展平生所學(xué)。但我太急于表現(xiàn)，很快就犯下了職業(yè)生涯中最重大的錯誤。

錯誤的具體情況比較復(fù)雜，大家不會感興趣，現(xiàn)在也沒有舊事重提的必要，但可以歸結(jié)為一句話：因?yàn)榍啡苯?jīng)驗(yàn)沖昏了頭。我盲目聽從一個同事的建議，但他的目標(biāo)和我截然不同（這犯了營銷的大忌）。結(jié)果我管理的品牌熱賣產(chǎn)品嚴(yán)重缺貨。這款產(chǎn)品原本是搖錢樹，但賣得太快結(jié)果經(jīng)銷商根本存不住貨。

由于我的失誤，該產(chǎn)品持續(xù)斷貨達(dá)兩到四周內(nèi)，損失了不少營業(yè)收入。要是你剛剛邁入職場就造成公司的巨大損失，不用多說你也能想象是什么心情。很多之前聽過的故事紛紛在眼前涌現(xiàn)，心提到了嗓子眼，胃里也堵得慌，靈魂都快出竅了。我知道工作快要不保，但既然還沒到那一步就得努力挽救局面。希望你們不會有類似的遭遇，可萬一碰到這種不幸，應(yīng)該做到以下幾點(diǎn)。

負(fù)起責(zé)任

為自己的錯誤負(fù)責(zé)。無論你是團(tuán)隊(duì)的管理者，還是個人，在美國商界，不負(fù)責(zé)任是最惡劣的行為。這說明當(dāng)事人職業(yè)素養(yǎng)不夠成熟，也缺乏專業(yè)的判斷。

人非圣賢，孰能無過。假如一個人犯錯以后承擔(dān)責(zé)任，而不是諉過于人，甚至佯裝并未出錯，說明此人值得信任，人品也過得去。想想職業(yè)生涯中你最尊重的人，他們當(dāng)然并非完人，卻可能個性剛強(qiáng)，犯了錯負(fù)起責(zé)任最能看出一個人性格堅(jiān)毅。

拿出行動

承擔(dān)責(zé)任固然重要，別一味陷在錯誤中同樣重要。承認(rèn)了錯誤卻不想辦法解決，對犯錯者的職業(yè)聲譽(yù)有害無益。你應(yīng)該利用可以調(diào)用的一切資源彌補(bǔ)，想方設(shè)法解決問題。你混跡商界的技能會從中接受考驗(yàn)。要找一切可能的機(jī)會彌補(bǔ)過失，也是發(fā)揮創(chuàng)造力的時候。倘若你夠優(yōu)秀（而且幸運(yùn)），你的創(chuàng)意解決方案會備受矚目，比對你過錯的關(guān)注還多。

吃一塹、長一智

從錯誤當(dāng)中汲取經(jīng)驗(yàn)教訓(xùn)。大部分明智又進(jìn)取的公司都會容許員工犯錯，當(dāng)然是在合理的前提下。這些機(jī)構(gòu)懂得，要激發(fā)創(chuàng)造力和新的渴望，就必須提供偶爾犯錯的空間。另一方面，很少有公司允許反復(fù)出錯，特別是同樣的錯誤一再出現(xiàn)。對每個錯誤都要做一番分析，從中汲取教訓(xùn)?？紤]應(yīng)該怎樣處理才能增加成功的幾率。也許還可以向局外人尋求幫助，有時我們沒能正視問題是因?yàn)槲覀兩碓谄渲小?/p>

至于我，當(dāng)年那個重大錯誤并沒有導(dǎo)致我被炒魷魚。我和同事同工廠合作，加快生產(chǎn)進(jìn)度，縮短了缺貨的時間。我們還推出了額外的獎勵機(jī)制，吸引大經(jīng)銷商在我們充分備貨以后增加采購量。

過程中給我學(xué)到了寶貴的一課。此后，每當(dāng)有人給專業(yè)建議時，我總是會多問幾個問題弄清對方的動機(jī)。要準(zhǔn)確理解別人的建議，就要學(xué)會站在別人的角度看問題。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：Pessy

審校：夏林

The Leadership Insiders network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in business contribute answers to timely questions about careers and leadership. Today’s answer to the question, “How should you react after making a big mistake at work?” is written by Shadan Deleveaux, co-founder of Technology For Families in Need.

So you messed up at work, now what?

Some years ago when I was a young marketer I was given the opportunity to manage a hair care brand. I was thrilled. By the company’s standards, the brand was small, only generating a few million dollars a year in revenue, but it was incredibly profitable and most importantly it was mine to run. I had recently finished my MBA and I felt like I was finally getting the opportunity to put what I’d learned in school to use. Eager to make an impact I jumped in and promptly made one of the largest mistakes of my professional career.

The details of my mistake are intricate, uninteresting, and at this point irrelevant, but suffice to say I let my inexperience get the best of me. I blindly took the advice of a colleague with different objectives than mine (a major ‘no no’ in business) and it resulted in a situation where my brand was out of stock on its top selling item. This product was the cash cow, the money maker, the product that our distributor couldn’t keep on the shelf because it sold too fast.

Because of my error, we had none to sell, for two to four weeks, representing a significant revenue shortfall. Imagine for a moment the feeling of being the new person on the job and you just cost the company a lot of money. I felt every cliche you could possibly imagine. I saw my life flash before my eyes, my heart was in my throat, I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach and my soul left my body. I just knew I was going to get fired, but before that happened I had to try and salvage the situation. I hope nothing similar ever happens to you, but just in case it does, here’s what you should do.

Take ownership.

Own your mistakes. Whether you are a team manager or an individual contributor, in corporate America there’s nothing worse than a person that ducks responsibility. It shows a lack of professional maturity and judgment.

Everyone makes mistakes. It shows trustworthiness and character to take responsibility for those mistakes instead of hiding behind others, or worse pretending that they didn’t happen. Think about the people in your professional life that you respect the most. They’re not perfect, of course, but they probably have very strong character and taking ownership of mistakes is one of the fundamental ways a person can show that they have strong character.

Take action

Taking ownership is important, but it is just as important to not passively wallow in the mistake. It does more harm than good to your professional reputation if all you do is admit mistake after mistake without providing any solutions. You should be using every resource at your disposal to right the wrong. Go above and beyond to find a resolution. This is where your skills as a business person will be tested. Think about the opportunities at your disposal to compensate for the mistake. Now is the time to be incredibly creative. If you are good (and lucky!), there’s a possibility that your creative solution will attract more attention than the initial faux pas.

Take heed

Learn from the mistake. Most smart and progressive organizations are OK with their employees making a mistake, within reason of course. These organizations understand that to foster creativity and new aspirations, you have to create room for the occasional mistake to be made. On the other hand, very few organizations are OK with repeated mistakes, especially the same mistake repeated more than once. Dissect each mistake and learn from it. Think about what should have been done differently to deliver a larger chance for success. You may want to get input from people outside of the specific situation, sometimes we are blinded by our own proximity to our problems.

As for me, I did not get fired, we were able to work with our plants to expedite manufacturing and reduce the time the item was out of stock. We also created additional incentives for our major distributor to purchase more once we were fully stocked.

In the process, I learned an incredibly valuable lesson. Moving forward, I will always ask more questions and seek to understand someone else’s incentives when they give me professional advice. Understanding their lens and perspective is critical to putting their advice in the proper context.