As the leader, it’s your job to address mistakes and imperfections.

That can be SO tough, because of course you want to maintain certain standards and push towards a more ideal future.

And, let’s be honest, there can be a bit of ego involved. Especially if this is the organization that you started.

On the other hand, though, we’re all imperfect. Perhaps even you. Mistakes are made. Problems happen. Life isn’t smooth.

When you screw up, yourself, how much do you beat yourself up? There’s a rational limit to this, right? The point is to repair things as best you can, learn from your mistake, and then move on. There are things which can never be totally fixed.

For the people you lead, you’ll need to be a little bit more compassionate than that. Partially that’s because they’re not quite as invested in it as their boss is (but there are exceptions). But also because they can become more dispirited and worried.

After all, you hold a certain amount of power over them. Maybe their job security or even the future of their career.

But at the end of the day you’ll have to forgive and move on. Please do forgive.

P.S. Don’t forget to forgive yourself. We need that too.