Does a boss admits his or her mistake?

If I am the president who always commit mistakes, I would be brave enough to admit such mistakes. I may say that I am not perfect and prone to commit errors. and of course would apologize and would try to correct them as much as possible. I would seek assistance and help from my peers and subordinates.

One trait that is admirable to a boss , is he/she owns up to his/her mistake. People are just humans susceptible to mistake, and so are they. When a boss admits his/her mistake, he should apologize and asks for suggestions to make better the situation. By doing that, is not an acceptance that he/she is not good, but just being fair to his/her subordinates. And when a subordinate gives a nice recommendation, he should readily give his appreciation too. He should assure them that he is doing that, because two head are better than one. That is the way, to be a nice boss.

I used to have a boss who was like that. He never apologized for the mistakes that he made and he never admitted one of his mistakes. Instead he blamed his mistakes on the employees. Sometimes he told me off and said to me: "Why didn't you do that? I told you to do that" but the truth was he never told me to do those things, and when I said that I didn't know about those things, because he hadn't told me he claimed that I was lying. When something went wrong he always thought that it was my fault. Of course it was my fault sometimes, but not every time. Sometimes I didn't do the tasks that he expected, because he never told me about them. As I was not able to read his mind I didn't do anything, but he told me off anyway. Fortuneately I don't work for him anymore.

Hi beamer88. I thought you might like an update.. I quit my job just over a week ago because my boss decided she would give me a 1099 so that she could avoid paying her share of the taxes. She has changed her story a few times as to why she done this, never admitting it was to avoid taxes. First, she said her CPA told her she HAD to file a 1099 on me. As I was never self employed nor was I a sub contractor, filing the 1099 was erroneous. The IRS frowns upon this sort of thing, and a CPA would not risk the wrath of telling someone they have to file erroneous reports. Next, she told me her husband (who was my boss, before he passed away this past July) had told her to have the CPA issue me a 1099. I know that is a lie! I know what the man told me. He would have never screwed me over. Not in a million years. He always had my back, just as I had his. She tried to claim that she did not know what effect the 1099 would have on me until I told her. That she was just going on what she was told to do. Now, after I had told her that if she were going to go with the 1099, she would have to accept that as a self employed person, I was entitled to set my own hours and my rate of pay. She refused to give me a raise. I told her that I would have to file papers with the IRS and let them make the determination as to who owed what. Needless to say, she has now decided that the 1099 was not the way to go. She has decided to issue a w2, as she should have all along. I am still waiting on it to arrive. I am very interested to see how this is going to turn out. She had already filed the 1099 with the IRS and I want to see what the w2 is going to say as far as taxes being taken out.

My boss does not admit to her mistakes. She blames me for what she does wrong even when a customer mentions that they had talked to her and not me. I would admit my mistakes. If I could not be honest and admit to being a mere human, then how would I expect my employees to be?

All good bosses admit their mistakes. I had few such bosses. But more often than not, the ego of position prevents most of the bosses from admitting mistakes, whereas, if they do admit, then their credibility will increase.

I think so I would specially if it's pretty obvious that it was my mistake. As a boss I should also accept that I am not perfect and might commit mistakes too. I think your boss thinks that a president should be perfect. So she just won't admit it and maybe raise her eyebrows only if every mistakes points to her. I've got a boss before and whenever he realized or we point out that he was wrong, he wasn't shy to say sorry.

It would easy to type yes I will apologize for my mistake but maybe when we are in the bosses' situation or shoes, maybe it is a different ballgame. I don't know so that is just maybe. But I think putting aside work designation and hierarchy, the right thing to do is to own up your mistake. It will not kill you.