When crisis hits: dealing with mistakes

I REMEMBER my first mistake at work. I was on ushering duty at a leadership event, looking anxiously between a print-out in my hands - with names, designations and pictures - and the faces of unfamiliar guests streaming in.

At the last minute, a sheepish-looking man sidled in. His friends at a nearby table greeted him boisterously: "Latecomers sit at the front!"

I was about to make that forfeit a reality. Squinting at the tiny picture on my print-out, I felt sure he was a high-ranking official who should be seated front and centre with the top guns.