VIR-III-0046
“My mistake is about to land on a junior person and I could let it.”
The error was yours, but the blame is drifting toward someone with less power to defend themselves, and you could let the current carry it. They'd take the hit; you'd stay clean. It's the coward's version of doing right in the dark, using the shadows to push your failure onto someone who trusted you. Owning your losses matters most exactly when someone weaker would otherwise pay for them.
Your Practice
- Say it before the blame lands on them: 'That was my mistake, not theirs.'
- Do it in front of the people forming the wrong conclusion, not just privately.
- Protect the junior person actively, not just by staying silent.
- Take the consequence. Letting someone smaller carry your failure is the real failure.
The Architects
“There's this culture at Stripe of just really prizing the small details. And we talk a lot about craftsmanship and rigor and abstractions that can endure over decades and sort of really getting those right.”
Patrick Collison, Dean's Speaker Series fireside chat, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, April 16, 2024 (Haas Newsroom writeup published April 30, 2024)