I sometimes wistfully contemplate how nice it would be to be perfect, to not make mistakes, to always be able to make the correct decisions.  Each time that I get into this mindset, I inevitably step into a mine field.

Perfection is not something with which humans were blessed.  Mistakes are a regular part of our daily existence and our learning experience. Yung was one of those rare mentors that tolerated mistakes up to a point.  He always made sure that you understood what went wrong and what might have been a better decision.  It was almost impossible to use up your second chances with Yung.  However, there was one caveat -- if you were going to make mistakes, be sure that you made new ones.  He seldom tolerated a repeat of a prior shortcoming.

I would add that along with challenging yourself to make new and better errors that you cultivate and practice the use of three important words: "It's my fault."  Nothing disarms a critic faster than admitting to your mistake.  The acceptance of blame should almost immediately be followed  by "and here's what we can do about it."

People are expecting you to deny responsibility and to make excuses.  If you do not do that in error situations, you almost always disarm your critic and take back control of the situation.

Therefore, project managers should strive to stretch themselves so that their errors are new and creative and bring learning to the project.  They should also learn to fully accept blame and make sure that their teams are shielded from too much flak when a mistake is made.  After the recovery and success make sure that the team claims success, not the project manager.