Failing at Leading

No one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. This is especially true with leaders, and even more so with developing leaders. Unfortunately, this is contrasted with the idea that leaders are always being watched, scrutinized, and their mistakes are sores that other people will try to exploit. You will always have to face this challenge, but you have to learn to overcome it.

"Leaders live in fish bowl and are always being watched. They should always be conscious of that fact and take advantage of it."
- Gene Klann

How can you take advantage of this situation? Instead of focusing on the negative outcomes of your mistakes, reflect upon yourself why you failed, and what you will do to prevent it from happening again. You must be willing and motivated to get back up and do it again.

"The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say "I." And that's not because they have trained themselves not to say "I." They don't think "I." They think "we"; they think "team." They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don't sidestep it, but "we" gets the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done."
- Peter Drucker

I believe if you can effectively get your "watchers" to perceive that you follow this rule, if you will, then they will start to see that they are a part of the "we", and their scrutiny will no longer be focused on just you.