Throw Yourself Under The Bus!

The common wisdom is to avoid admitting your were wrong. But the common wisdom is what's wrong. It's better to know what you did wrong and admit it than try to hide your mistakes.

You're in a meeting where your boss and colleagues are discussing a recent team failure. You're aware of several things that went wrong, including some actions you were responsible for. The common wisdom says you should avoid talking about your mistakes, in hopes that others' contributions to the failure was larger than yours, and you will avoid being blamed for your part in the failure. This is an ethical problem, but also an efficiency and effectiveness problem. The professional answer is to throw yourself under the bus.