It takes a great leader to admit mistakes

Throughout my lifetime, I only see few leaders who would admit mistakes and take full responsibility. I grew up from a proud family where admission is tantamount to admission of guilt. That is why I learned to never admit mistakes, no matter what. But when I became an academic manager, I learned there is nothing wrong in admitting mistakes. Admitting mistakes with all humility makes one a great leader.

I first experienced a leader being humble and taking full responsibility for the mistakes of his managers during the reign of Dr. Edilberto De Jesus. It was in the year 2001 when the university he worked in had an issue on the computerized enrollment. Since the computerized enrollment system was not tested fully, there were a lot of problems encountered which resulted to a breaking of the glass door at the university's electronic library, defective queuing system, complaints from students who waited for a week just to be enrolled, and complaints from enrollment advisers (faculty members) who were not educated enough on how to enroll students using the electronic system of enrollment. There were managers who were actually responsible for the negligent act. But it was Dr. Edilberto de Jesus who took full responsibility of the ineffectiveness of the untested computerized enrollment system. It took guts to take full responsibility and be accountable at that. Since then, I have learned to respect the man for being a humble gentleman.

When I learned that our President Noynoy Aquino publicly announced that he is taking full responsibility for the HK Hostage Crisis, I suddenly remembered my experience with Dr. Edilberto de Jesus. It really takes a man to publicly admit mistakes of his officials and be accountable. President Aquino is not a man of angst, he is a man who is genuinely serving Filipinos. From the moment President Aquino admitted his mistakes, I once again found another great leader next to Dr. Edilberto de Jesus.

To the people who said that a public apology from President Noynoy Aquino regarding the HK hostage aftermath is unnecessary, YOU ARE STILL LIVING IN THE DARK AGES.

It takes a great leader to be humble and admit mistakes without giving any justification. Taking full responsibility for the acts of his officials is an experience for our dear President in his first year term. Our public officials and leaders should learn from it and then move on to better serve their constituents. President Aquino's noble intentions have been clear from the beginning. No matter how people react, I still say it takes a great leader to admit his mistakes and take full responsibility at that.