So you did nothing wrong

You did nothing wrong. And yet you take responsibility.

That’s a hard to find attitude in a world that’s used to equate imperfection with failure.

In that world, we’re much more used to seeing the opposite, i.e. someone refusing to take responsibility even if they did something wrong.

Which is no wonder as we learn early on that the one who does something wrong takes the blame. And the punishment. So we better avoid being that one. Thankfully, confirmation bias and other biases are here to the rescue.

Astonishing things happen when you break that pattern.

When you’re the one who takes responsibility for the outcome regardless, not only does it takes all the anger away from your customer. It earns you a smile as this attitude is so unusual to find.

Likewise when you’re on the other side. When someone other than you did something wrong and you refrain from putting blame and punishment on them, it opens the door for them to own the outcome regardless.

Either way, it allows all of us to focus on what actually matters: To find a solution to the trouble we’re looking at.