#442 Leadership Mistakes: Why Accountability Defines True Leadership - Article by Niels Brabandt
Leadership Mistakes: Why Accountability Defines True Leadership
By Niels Brabandt
Leadership is not measured by the absence of mistakes, but by the way leaders respond to them. In a business world where every word can reach thousands instantly, the handling of errors has become a defining marker of credibility, reputation, and long-term success.
A single misjudged statement can ignite public outrage, damage trust, and even undermine the viability of entire organizations. The question is not if leaders will make mistakes, but how they respond when they do.
The Case of Markus Söder: What Leaders Can Learn
The Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder recently compared Germany without key industries to “a woman without her reproductive organs.” Regardless of intention, such rhetoric is indefensible in a modern leadership context. The public backlash was immediate.
Instead of issuing a clear and direct apology, Söder leaned on cultural excuses (“it’s an old idiom”) and offered the classic pseudo-apology: “Sorry that you feel that way.” This rhetorical maneuver shifts responsibility away from the speaker and onto those offended. For any leader—political or corporate—this is a fatal error.
Why Pseudo-Apologies Fail
When leaders say, “I’m sorry if you were offended,” they are not apologizing for their behavior but delegitimizing the experience of others. This undermines trust and portrays the leader as defensive rather than accountable.
Business decision-makers should recognize that pseudo-apologies trigger three major risks:
Reputation loss: Stakeholders interpret them as arrogance.
Commercial damage: Customers, partners, or investors may withdraw.
Cultural erosion: Employees disengage when they see leaders escape responsibility.
The Blueprint for Real Accountability
Effective leaders follow a different path:
Take full ownership. Acknowledge the mistake without excuses.
Apologize directly. A simple “I was wrong, I am sorry” restores credibility.
Commit to change. Demonstrate that lessons have been learned and behavior will not be repeated.
Invest in preparation. Ongoing training and professional coaching reduce the risk of future missteps.
These steps transform errors into opportunities for trust-building. When handled properly, a mistake can even enhance a leader’s reputation as authentic and resilient.
Privilege, Ego, and the Leadership Divide
Too many leaders lean on outdated narratives—“no one was offended in my generation” or “people are too sensitive today.” Such views often reflect past privileges rather than present realities. Leadership today requires not only competence but also cultural awareness and adaptability.
As Niels Brabandt, founder of NB Networks and expert in Sustainable Leadership, argues: “Your ego is irrelevant. Scientific preparation, genuine accountability, and a willingness to adapt are the non-negotiable standards of modern leadership.”
The Bottom Line
Every leader will face moments of misjudgment. What separates effective leaders from obsolete ones is their response. Organizations must demand more than defensive posturing; they must cultivate cultures where accountability, humility, and professional development define leadership standards.
Handled well, a mistake becomes a lesson. Handled poorly, it becomes the beginning of a leader’s—and sometimes an organization’s—decline.
About the Author
Niels Brabandt is the founder of NB Networks. He works internationally as a trainer, speaker, coach, and consultant with a focus on Sustainable Leadership. His weekly publications, including the “Leadership Podcast” and “Leadership Blog,” reach decision-makers worldwide. Learn more at www.nb-networks.biz.
Niels Brabandt
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More on this topic in this week's videocast and podcast with Niels Brabandt: Videocast / Apple Podcasts / Spotify
For the videocast’s and podcast’s transcript, read below this article.
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Niels Brabandt is an expert in sustainable leadership with more than 20 years of experience in practice and science.
Niels Brabandt: Professional Training, Speaking, Coaching, Consulting, Mentoring, Project & Interim Management. Event host, MC, moderator.
Podcast Transcript
Niels Brabandt
Just one statement and hell broke loose. Maybe you know these moments or maybe you know these moments when you think hopefully when our leader steps in front of press or says anything in public, hopefully they say something that makes sense. Hopefully they say something that not anyone goes wild over. And hopefully they say something which is not wildly offensive, no matter from which angle you take it. And probably you know the moment where just hope is the only thing you have. And of course that's not how it should be. We're going to talk about how to handle leadership mistakes today.
And the problem with leadership mistakes often is that often people who do these mistakes do not see that they've done these. So of course when we talk about leadership mistakes we have to talk about a real world case here. And as usual I'm always referring to the fair use. I'm allowed to quote what I'm going to quote right here. I'm going to quote actual media. I'm going to show you the real world media. When you watching on YouTube or listening on Apple podcasts, I'm going to tell you all of the real world media that reported on this.
So when you now have a leader where you say the last statement wasn't too great and suddenly anyone goes wild over it and you do not have to be a worldwide known politician, politician. When we talk about handling leaders mistakes, it means that you only need to be known in a certain circle of relevant people in your industry. One statement that anything can go wild from there and sometimes for a very good reason. I give you a very simple example here. The situation was that the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Zuider sounds incredibly German because he is. What else do you expect from a Bavarian prime minister? And he said that without certain key industries, Germany would be as useless as a woman without her lower body part parts.
Yeah, that happened. If, if, if you think I made that up, I didn't. So first you see it on YouTube right here, it's myvoice, my choice Org. That's a website that usually has a good cause. They quoted Germany without industry is like a woman without her reproductive organs. That's how they translated that into English.
Not the 100% correct translation. However, they get the right point here and of course then other media pick it up as well. In this case here, Ground News that often summarize other news outlets there and in this case Ground news says that telling that this is unacceptable is right, but saying that it's sex is not a take which I do not share. When you refer to anyone, no matter of what gender or gender. Gender identity. When you say person X is useless without their reproductive organs, that is sexist, no matter against which gender you go. So the case of the Bavarian Prime Minister is a typical case where you have to say, how do you handle that?
And let's face face it, Marcus Zuder didn't handle it too well, because of course, when he went into different talk shows, people picked it up. And especially in one talk show where a young woman asked, what do you do for chances and equality in your country? And how can you align that with what you just said about the reproductive organs of women? And then Marcus Sudda said, yeah, well, it is an old idiom, an old Bavarian idiom. And he's right with that. It is. There is an old Bavarian idiom which says, XYZ is useless just as a woman without her lower body parts.
It's an old idiom. And as he rightfully said, it's an old idiom. So he should know that idioms often have a timestamp. I can tell you that when I went to kindergarten, we had songs there, we had poems there that today I wouldn't be anywhere near quoting in public, because they are wildly, wildly racist and offensive. Simply, no one cared in the 1980s when I went to kindergarten. And that's of course also wildly unacceptable to be that insensitive towards children because they produce, that they. They reproduce that kind of behavior.
And they are later the generation saying, no one was offended when I was younger. And that is never a smart take, because it usually says, I have no reasoning on my side, so I just pretend it's not relevant. And you try to get away with it and you always fail. So the alluding to the idiom was not the worst part, after he said, it's an old idiom, and then said to the young woman, sorry that you don't know it. Not too great in international country to say that no one knows any idiom from any regional place. No, Mr. Zur, we don't have to know the old Bavarian idiom.
When you go on a national stage, then you need to be able to talk to national audiences. You can do anything you want in a closed Bavarian Wiesen tent when there is the Bavarian Oktoberfest again. But even then it will go international because you're an international person, you're a relevant politician, and you need to know about that. So when we talk about these aspects, the idiom wasn't the worst part. He then said, I'm sorry that you feel that way. And here is the next part where the outrage got worse. Of course, when you talk about handling mistakes, and handling mistakes means you talk about what you have done wrong.
When you say something wildly unacceptable and you try to handle these mistakes. There is a number one rule and I give you a very standard thing I hear when I do leadership coaching very often and then I tell people, look, what, what you just said is unacceptable. And the usual answer of people who are not very keen getting coached, but the HR sent them to me. What happened is that people say something like, yeah, Mr. Brabant, you know, when, when I was younger, no one was offended and I come from a different generation, you know, so I actually couldn't know.
How should I know? I'm just older and people have to get, have, have, have to cut me some slack, you know, it's just people weren't that weak back in the days. They weren't offended of everything, you know, it's just, it's just people, it's just me. It didn't mean anything bad. But I'm sorry that you feel that way. And here is the problem. When you say something like, I'm sorry that you feel that way, you just disqualified yourself as a leader from any relevant position.
And the reason for that is pretty simple. The reason for that is when you say something like that, sorry that you feel this way, you blame the person you said something against about their feelings. You did the offense and you just switch the offender and the victim. It's a desperate attempt trying to get away with that. And of course, anyone immediately sees that and you fail brutally and you get torn apart 10 times more than before. So very important here is that there is no blaming when you made the mistakes. When you say, oh, I had a really bad day and I was tired and I wasn't well prepared and just stop the blaming of others, simply say, I didn't see that way back then, but now someone updated me on how it can be seen.
I am very sorry that I said that. I shouldn't have said it. I am sorry, full stop, moving on. And it's a non story in media and the public, in your industry and anywhere else within 30 seconds or less. But when you say, yeah, you know, sorry that you feel that way, and it's an old Bavarian idiom, you know, you have to handle this because you know it was there back in the day.
So what's your problem? Then you basically do the number one mistake. You do not give a serious apology. These pseudo apologies are there all over the place. And as soon as you give these pseudo Apologies. People will get very angry with you, by the way, for a very good reason. People need to see that you give a serious apology and then you change behavior afterwards.
And of course you can now say, I do not want to change my behavior. Of course you can say that. Then of course you will have the public outrage over and over again. You damage your organization, you damage your company, you damage anyone around you. Probably people will come contact with you. Your organization will have to reconsider. If you are still suitable for the position that you're in, and especially when you're, when you are a company out there in free enterprise, then you might have harmed the organization that bad that they say your position became untenable.
Because when people suddenly say, look, we have a wide range of choices and your leader says wildly unacceptable things and then basically blames the victims for saying it's not okay to say that we cannot purchase with you, or we can only purchase with you when we put you at the lowest, lowest, lowest ever price and even then would reconsider if we actually want to do business with you. So sorry, not sorry, we're not going to do business with you. So here is the main point. You harm anyone from you, anyone around you, and organizations and companies that really deserve better. And when you then double on, and I know this, I know after almost any podcast or any interview I give anywhere, it is always the same sequence. The sequence is that usually some people who start with no one was offended back in the days are the people who became leaders during a time where birthright privileges was the predominant qualifying factor. These were people who are usually white male, straight cisgender, and then they say, I became a leader, I worked myself up.
Sorry, no you didn't. No you didn't.
Because basically no one else except white male state whose gender was actually considered to become a leader. I know that I had some of these birthright privileges, but at least I accept and address that. I'm white male and cisgender, but not straight. There we are. And that is already a massive disadvantage. And just, just look at what's still happening with women, etc. Look at what's happening in free enterprise organizations.
Massive, massive issues still all over the place. And when you have these people who say, oh, Mr. Rabant, I'm just not as woke as you. And I work myself up, usually looking at their CVS and they are full of birthright privileges, so stay offended with that. When you say, I keep doing what I do, you shouldn't be surprised that suddenly people say, we're moving on from you and suddenly you are jobless and you are there with all the wealth. You got together during a time where your privileges worked, but now no one wants to hear your opinion, your advice or your consultancy. You're just sitting there as a frustrated and then mentally overaged man.
I do not stick to biological age, just someone who is mentally overaged. And that basically means you didn't keep up with the times, which is, sorry to say that a minimum qualification for anyone doing a leadership consultancy. So the question now is, when you say, I think we have some of these leaders amongst our leaders, how can things get better from there? The implementation isn't as easy, but the approach is pretty straightforward. The first thing you do either with professional training or professional coaching, you need to prepare them. And no, it doesn't have to go on forever. Usually say when you have coaching, you either have something like 24 sessions, 12 sessions or six sessions and you say, hey, during these sessions we're going to cover this topic and then you go on from there.
Some people say, I prefer to have a longer term commitment with my coach. We meet once a month, once a quarter, if it becomes less than once a month, bi weekly when there's really a massive need as possible weekly. I'm not a therapist. I'm not a therapist. Please see the difference. I'm a coach, not a therapist. And by the way, anyone today calls themselves coach.
My qualification coaching is an mba, a master's degree, two years full time, massive effort. So when anyone else says, oh, here coaching, there coaching, here I have, I got this certificate from the weekend class or from some dubious association, don't work with these people. You need professionally qualified coaches and the qualification for coaching needs to be an academic one. It's way too complex when you don't know the science. Don't approach coaching because it is simply not working that way. Of course you can always say, I'm preparing for my target audience. So when you're a liberal politician or you're a left wing or right wing politician, you have certain target audiences.
But still, do you only want to reach out to your audience that is already voting for you? I think you want to convince people that people who haven't voted for you in the past are now voting for you. When you alienate by your very first few lines, then you probably will never convince anyone except the ones who are already convinced. And when that's not a significant amount of people, you will fail sooner or later. The most important aspect is tailor your stage and tailor your messages to your target audience without making statements that are so wildly unacceptable that anyone can say, this person is genuinely unsuitable for leadership in any position, because that is how you will end up when you simply think you already know it all. Because one thing you have to see, your ego has to stay behind. I know that when for the very first time you say something where people say, ooh, that is wildly off the chart, that means you will be hurt.
And we've all been there. I don't know a single person that is a leader that said something where people not at a certain point said, absolutely not that one. And then you sometimes have to see that you were wrong. When I were in my beginning twenties and my career took off, I was one of the people who said, you know, when you work hard, anyone has a career, career is only about working hard, nothing else. Well, and then my boss took me to the side and said, look, Nielsen, also about networking, birthright privileges and whatnot. So you have to be aware of that. Stop saying that.
And of course it's not the greatest moment of the of of that week getting told you were wrong. However, I looked into science and I knew that I was wrong, so I corrected saying that. And in the future I stopped saying that. It is nothing else than a learning curve. How do you want to lead people? When they say, our leaders expect us to adapt to change, they expect us to see every piece of change as a chance. They say change is inevitable and change is omnipresent and they do not adapt to any single change ever.
That is the moment where people stop following you because they think you're just boneheaded. And being boneheaded is never a good trade. However, when you do it the way we just talked about, you can make mistakes, you can recover from them, and then you move on and everything will become better from there. And I wish you all the best implementing that in your organization. And when you now say I think I have two to poly 28 questions here, feel free to get in touch with me. So first, of course, when you watch me on YouTube, leave a like there please. Thank you very much and please subscribe to my channel.
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Looking forward to seeing you there as well. The most important thing, however, is always the last thing I say. Apply, apply, apply what you heard in this podcast. Because only when you apply what you heard, you will see the positive changes that you obviously want to see in the organization or in your organization. Very important. When you now have anything else that you'd like to discuss about, get in touch. I answer every single message within 24 hours or less.
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