The Right to Be Wrong

Posted on August 3, 2026 Updated on August 3, 2026

American journalist and author, Kathryn Shulz, spoke at TED several years ago, and the title of her 18 minute talk was: On Being Wrong. What Ms. Shuulz has to say is well worth all of us allotting 18 minutes of our day to watch this attached video. The gist of her message is that it’s a very big problem to have the feeling of always being right, and she explains why.

To begin with, she asked some of the audience members this question:

How does it feel to be wrong?

Their answers were: dreadful, embarrassing, thumbs down. She thanked them for their answers and then told them that they actually provided answers to a different question, that question being:

How does it feel to realize that you’re wrong?

You see, being wrong doesn’t feel like anything. We go along our merry way believing something or stating something, fully convinced that what we’re saying is right, so we’re not feeling what it feels like to be wrong. It isn’t until we discover that our strongly held opinion or belief is actually wrong that the dreadfulness and embarrassment creep in.

Many of us were raised to realize the importance of not making mistakes, or if we missed that lesson, we rapidly learned in school – and then in our working careers – that making mistakes is a big fat no-no.

But what about the statement: we learn from our own mistakes?

I can honestly tell you that I’ve learned far more valuable lessons from falling flat on my face than I’ve learned standing up on a self-righteous pedestal.  Being wrong or making mistakes is not a defect. It’s a fact of life. St. Augustine would say it proves that we’re alive:

Fallor ergo sum.  I err therefore I am.

I can live with that.