Being Wrong

Over the years I’ve narrowed down a few real go-to places for me to be genuinely inspired. TED.com is one of those places that has never let me down. Recently I came across a talk by Kathryn Schulz, American journalist and author of the book: Being Wrong. It piqued my interest after having read a few other articles on the importance of failure and on admitting when you’re wrong. Schulz talks about how our culture creates in us an inability to fail or to admit wrongdoing and that this deep seated belief that our way is always the right way actually prevents us from seeing the bigger picture and avoiding costly mistakes. When someone disagrees with us we instantly move to one of three assumptions: they are ignorant, they are stupid or they are informed and smart but just plain evil.

I think that in all businesses including advertising, rethinking being wrong is good advice to take to heart and to try to implement when working with colleagues, clients and vendors. We are all just human beings and none of us are perfect. You’ve probably been wrong several times this week and didn’t know it. And as Schulz puts it, when we are wrong, we are a bit like Wile E. Coyote who is in that moment of having run off the cliff before realizing he is about to fall. The mistake has been made and yet we are too busy believing we are right to notice.

Watch the TED talk and let us know what you think. And if you have a favourite TED talk comment below, we’d love to watch it.