AN interesting original post Tojo, and some thought provoking comments. As others have said - humans are rarely always right. Being wrong is part of what makes us human.

As Polaris says:
Human beings are complex creatures. We make mistakes, often inadvertently, and no amount of caution, care or experience can prevent us from doing so. What counts, I believe, is not that we are all imperfect to a certain degree, but that we learn out of our mistakes, as well as the way we deal with them. In that way, a good dom is somebody who learns from his mistakes and who acknowledges them. A good dom is also somebody who knows when to take advice, or fall back on the strengths of the submissive part. This is of course my personal viewpoint, but I don't think that it makes you less dominant to acknowledge a mistake and apologise for it -- it reduces hard feelings, really. I also think it would be silly to not utilise potential where there is potential -- different people are good at different things, and it would be silly to do something you are not good at yourself in order to remain 'dominant'.
Mistakes happen - only a fool refuses to learn from his mistakes, or pretends to strengths he doesn't have. To me, being 'dominant' doesn't mean doing everything myself, or even being dominant in situations where I am wiser to defer to another's judgment. I am confident in my abilities - I know what I'm good at and what I'm not good at.

I tend to display that confidence most of the time - sometimes it slips - but then I'm human. And confidence has never prevented me from apologizing if I'm wrong, or admitting I don't know something.

I've often thought that a truly confident person is always ready to admit a mistake and offer restitution, if it's called for. That confidence, I think, is where the dominance comes from too.

I don't have to be right, I don't have to be best, I don't have to be perfect to be dominant. What I do have to be is confident in my own abilities, have the confidence to think before making a decision, and have the confidence to carry my decisions through. But more so, I feel that having the confidence to admit when I was wrong or need help in something without feeling diminished is what makes me able to dominate.

Those who claim never to be wrong, or who feel capable of doing everything are the ones I distrust most (whether the person is dominant or submissive). And any dominant who expects to be taken seriously knows better than to claim perfection.

My two cents worth, anyway.