Wikipedia has this to say about self-serving bias:

A self-serving bias is any cognitive or perceptual process that is distorted by the need to maintain and enhance self-esteem, or the tendency to perceive oneself in an overly favorable manner.

In recent days, I have had multiple people tell me that I blame myself too much. This I believe is a misunderstanding. I take failures much more seriously not to beat myself down but to be able to “play the next hand” (as I think of it) better. I, as anybody else, can fail due to external factors but I think those are far rearer than people want to believe. If your reports are not doing a good job - have you invested enough in them? If your superiors are not doing a good job - did you give them an honest feedback? If you failed to convince - were your arguments sound but approach at fault or vice versa or both? Could you have had a better timing? Were your expectations unrealistic? I cannot not wonder this. Besides, in my mind at least, if something is my fault then fixing it becomes much easier.

Last modified on 2023-05-27