“I was wrong.”

How powerful those words can be. I remember my dad losing his temper with me when I was 18. I didn’t dare tell him what I was thinking. I just walked away. Went into my room and closed the door. A few minutes later, I heard a soft rap on the door and my dad walked in. He said he was sorry and those three words. What a lasting lesson: a person in authority admitting to a mistake.

Did you know Steve Jobs opposed the creation of the iPhone?

Do you remember Richard Branson starting Virgin Cola to challenge Coke and Pepsi, but making it available only on Virgin flights or in Virgin theaters?

That Blockbuster could have bought Netflix? That Excite could have bought Google?

We all make mistakes. You can read about the most common errors made by business leaders here. Even The New York Times  columnists acknowledged they were wrong in a cache of op-eds this week.

The worst part of making a mistake is failing to acknowledge it by ignoring evidence to the contrary and “sticking to your guns.”

I’ve been continuing to read Adam Grant’s “Think Again” and I admire his research on how often truly brilliant people change their minds. The best leaders are open to opposing views. They listen to those pain-in-the-ass employees who are seen as argumentative and “not a team player.” They seek out the quiet people on the team. And they encourage the respectful clash of ideas. In that cacophony of words, the better ideas often emerge.

Jobs thought the iPod was “it.” Nothing could ever top his love for, as he put it, “1,000 songs in your pocket.” But his engineers continued to argue (often against his famous temper) that the iPod was merely a first step and that your phone could still have 1,000 songs (or more) and a lot more.

What “truth” are you holding onto that it’s time to change? Can you acknowledge that even though you are the leader, you might be wrong? Those are powerful words, and they might vault your business to greater heights.