When did it become acceptable to excuse incompetence by saying “We are sorry, we have listened and will learn from our mistakes”?
When I was a trainee, (admittedly some years ago when eating meat, driving a car and looking after a family were not considered heinous crimes), I was told to think carefully before I rushed off and did something. Admittedly, I did not always heed this wise counsel but on the occasions I ignored it, I was left in no doubt that the responsibility for the resultant mess was entirely my fault. The world I inhabited seemed to be populated by people saying things like “Look before you leap” and “Act in haste, repent at leisure”. Nowadays if a decision is not made at the snap of a finger, weakness of character is suspected. So it is not a weakness to make a rushed, ill-considered decision which is invariably criticised the moment it leaves the lips; but it is a weakness not to say "I have listened", and look contrite when the gooey stuff inevitably hits the fan.
Regretfully, the culture of ‘Shoot first, think later’ seems to have been enthusiastically embraced by businesses, public employees and politicos alike so we have to listen to apologies from bankers over reckless lending, public employees over lack of preparation for snow in winter and politicians over dismantling the Forestry Commission.
It is not acceptable to make mistakes – our institutions should be managed by people who know what they are doing not by people who are willing to learn on the job! Some sage advice was given to me as a young manager, “You can forgive people most things but not persistent incompetence” It’s time we stopped forgiving – lessons learned or not!
