I Messed Up at Work: How to Recover from a Major Work Blunder 7 | 34

Radical Candor: Communication at Work

Radical Candor

Careers, Relationships, Society & Culture, Business

4.7 • 740 Ratings

🗓️ 20 August 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We’ve all been there—that heart-sinking moment when you realize you’ve messed up at work. Kim, Jason, and Amy discuss how to recover from a big mistake without letting self-blame take over. Inspired by a Reddit post about a project that fell months behind, they share lessons from their own experiences, practical ways to take responsibility, and how to follow through with a recovery plan that actually works. You’ll learn why asking for support is a strength, not a weakness, and how managers can identify trouble early, check in effectively, and foster a culture where it’s safe to speak up before problems escalate. Whether you’ve missed a deadline, dropped the ball, or just want to be ready if things go sideways, this episode will help you rebuild trust and turn a setback into an opportunity for growth. Get all of the show notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠RadicalCandor.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Episode Links:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Transcript Barings Bank: Its Collapse, Acquisition, and Lessons Learned | Investopedia I Fell Behind At Work And Fucked Up: How Do I Move Forward? | Reddit Resources For Feedback Training, Coaching & Development | Radical Candor How Delivering Bad News Early Strengthens Your Relationships at Work | Radical Candor Why Procrastinators Procrastinate | Wait But Why 6 Steps for Setting Measurable Goals to Avoid "Productivity Paranoia" | Radical Candor The Bob Story, a Tale of Ruinous Empathy | Radical Candor Podcast 4 | 1 Connect: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Chapters: (00:00:00) Introduction Kim, Jason, and Amy introduce a Redditor’s dilemma about falling months behind on a project. (00:02:59) When Big Mistakes Happen Stories of mistakes and why they feel so personal. (00:04:05) From Lost to Regained Credibility Why credibility is already damaged—and how to earn it back. (00:06:20) Getting Away With Mistakes How getting away with a risky choice makes it tempting to repeat. (00:08:32) Procrastination or Denial? Recognizing the difference and the risk to your reputation. (00:12:31) Acknowledging the Mistake Why the first step to regaining credibility is admitting the error. (00:15:34) Kim’s Story of Denial A personal startup experience, health struggles, and hard truths. (00:20:29) Accountability Without Punishment Why admitting mistakes doesn’t mean beating yourself up. (00:21:40) The Manager’s Role How leaders can spot issues early and make bad news safe to share. (00:26:34) Escaping the “Death March” Breaking the cycle of repeated missed deadlines. (00:29:45) Preventing Crisis With Goal Tracking How visibility helps identify delays before they become disasters. (00:33:09) A Plan to Rebuild Trust Steps for repairing credibility with your boss and peers. (00:36:11) Cognitive vs. Affective Trust The two sides of workplace trust and how to restore them. (00:38:04) Radical Candor Tips Advice for self-forgiveness, peer support, and managing accountability. (00:41:37) Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Radical Kanner podcast.
0:08.4	I'm Kim Scott.
0:09.6	I'm Jason Rozoff.
0:11.6	And I'm Amy Sandler.
0:12.8	Quick, I'm going to interrupt you, Amy.
0:14.6	Sorry.
0:15.6	Before we get into the episode, I want to solicit some feedback from you, too.
0:21.9	I'm, Amy, okay, sorry.
0:26.7	I have a random question. I'm soliciting feedback. I'm not giving it. I always say hello,
0:32.8	everybody, but the notes always suggest that I say everyone. And I have had eye rolls at everybody
0:42.2	instead of everyone in other examples. What I rolls? Not from you all. Is there any reason why I
0:51.3	shouldn't say everybody instead of everyone? That's my question.
0:55.9	I don't know, but I feel like that's a good question that we can be asking someone in the background.
1:01.0	Or our listeners.
1:02.2	Yeah.
1:03.0	Maybe there's a good reason.
1:04.7	I think this is just a guess.
1:07.0	There may be something that I don't know in terms of the origin of that word.
1:11.7	But you sometimes say it like, hello everybody, because I was actually just listening to it recently, like an
1:17.2	episode from a few years ago, and then you were like, and everybody has a body. So I don't know
1:22.1	if any eye rolls were related to like what was happening. So the reason why I did that on that podcast is I was asking this question and I was
1:30.4	going to come back to it.
	...

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