Every CEO aspires to win in the marketplace. They demonstrate this ambition through strategic decisions, innovation initiatives, and the many actions they take to drive growth and performance.

But no matter how smart or visionary a CEO may be, success is impossible without people. No CEO wins alone. To truly succeed, you must win the hearts and minds of your people.

Interestingly, earning their trust and support doesn’t come from being the most innovative, digitally advanced, or financially savvy organization. It begins when your people start to see you as human.

And that happens when you shift from being the CEO who is always right to becoming the CEO who knows when to admit being wrong.

A humble CEO who can say, “I was mistaken in my assumption,” or “My decision regarding that divestment wasn’t the best,” doesn’t show weakness - they show strength. That simple act often has a powerful effect: it wins the respect and loyalty of senior executives and teams alike.

At MCL, we call this the “I Am Wrong Capability” - the ability to promptly and humbly admit mistakes without defensiveness or justification. Developing this capability signals to your people that your ego will never stand in the way of progress.

CEOs who possess this capability understand something fundamental: no one has a monopoly on knowledge, and the best ideas must lead. When the best ideas start to rule in your organization, wonders begin to happen.

As the CEO, always remember, not everything that can be counted truly counts.

If insights like this resonate with you, follow our company’s Linkedin page for exclusive CEO-level perspectives and actionable strategies to build high-performance, system-thinking organizations.

For further inquiries or to discuss how Mentoring Consult Ltd can support your organization’s strategic transformation, please contact us at transform@mclgroup.net or reach us via phone or WhatsApp at +372 5838 2595.