This afternoon I was helping out a friend by doing a mock interview with one of her team members who is interviewing for a Manager job. In the course of our conversation, I asked him my favorite interview question for aspiring leaders –
Tell me about a time you made a mistake at work; how did you recover from it?
After he was done answering the question, I shared with him why I ask this question whenever I get the chance. From my perspective, a good answer contains evidence the aspiring leader did 3 things:
- Took ownership for the mistake.
- Did whatever he/she needed to do to make it right.
- Identified the root cause and took action to prevent it from happening again.
As I sat down to reflect on Psalm 60, I kept coming back to this interview question. In fact, David’s actions in Psalm 60 illustrate a wise approach to confronting mistakes.
The context for this Psalm was defeat. David and his army had suffered some kind of a loss in battle. David knew that when the Lord was on their side, his army was always victorious. So this defeat told him that someone had made a mistake that resulted in God’s disfavor. As the leader, David owned the mistake and he set out to make it right.
No matter the mistake or situation, I am confident greater obedience to the ways of the Lord, and greater reliance on God’s power to overcome will always produce greater outcomes. Let God’s word guide your actions today.
The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him (Psalm 28:7).