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'I Effed That Up': 6 Strategies From Successful Business Leaders on Dealing With Failure Failure is part of leadership, so what do you do when your decisions end badly?

By Entrepreneur Staff Edited by Frances Dodds

This story appears in the September 2021 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »

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1. Don't spin mistakes.

"Everyone on our team will tell you they've heard me say, "I effed that up' many times. I am my harshest critic, and I certainly don't try to spin my mistakes as anything other than "my bad.' Recently, I sent our warehouse incomplete paperwork. When a distributor picked up a PO, it ended up costing us money. If I didn't own up to the mistake, my team wouldn't trust me in the future." — Luke Christianson, cofounder, Marco Sweets & Spices

2. Brace yourself for tough feedback.

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