Being Open MindedSample

Being open minded to accept that I could be wrong.

Psalm 51:4 – Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight;”

In today’s world it is indeed a rarity to hear a business leader or a political leader ever accept that he or she was wrong on anything, be it a view or an action. Conceding that one could be wrong is seen a as a sign of weakness. We constantly find CEOs and heads of corporations “talk up” their stocks. Political leaders put a spin on everything they do and decide on. Nobody likes to accept they “could have been wrong”.

The Bible does not talk of perfect people. It talks of people who made mistakes, of whom some learnt from their missteps and some who didn’t. King David was an example of a leader who was willing to acknowledge his mistakes, even his sin of adultery! In the portion we read, it was his sin of pride and self-reliance. The reason he was able to accept he was wrong, was because he had a strong relationship with his God and he felt his inadequacy before a holy God. As Christians we are subject to God’s authority and in a relationship like that we should have no qualms about accepting when we go wrong.

The Methodist preacher Rev. Dr. Stanley Jones talks about a telephone operator who said “she would die a thousand deaths before she accepts she apologized”. To this her manager replied that “she never has any difficulty in apologizing when she was wrong, as it cooled the customer down”. Dr. Jones adds that it was for this reason, the telephone operator remained an operator many years after while the manager moved higher up!!

Wipro, the company I started with in its early years, diversified into several domains like packaged software and financial products, both of which were not successful. But the chairman of the company was willing to accept it was a mistake and take responsibility for it. He shut those divisions down, even though it meant he had to pay out several investors, take a hit on profits and redeploy people. That needed courage and honesty. Many times it will prove to be the best business decision as well.

Prayer:

Lord give me the humility to realize that my views may not always be right and the wisdom to accept my mistakes when I am wrong and help me retrace my steps.