Closely related to the acknowledgement of one’s mistakes is the awareness of one’s shortcomings, whether in terms of knowledge or ability. When working between and within other cultures, it is important to come into a collaboration with, at minimum, a basic understanding of the social expectations and language. After all, something as simple as putting in the effort to learn how to greet someone in their first language can both show one’s level of effort and a genuine level of enthusiasm in the collaborative work. As such, one potential pitfall of collective action is assuming that all people will come into the space with the same linguistic knowledge and (at the very least, similar) cultural backgrounds. With this in mind, it is important to consider what may be relevant to conversation cross-culturally and attempt to fill in the gaps of knowledge where one can.

Likewise, shortcomings in ability should also be identified and expressed. If someone who has years of experience makes an error or oversight in raising coral, it can feel incredibly embarrassing to admit that something has gone wrong. However, my father heavily emphasized the need for honesty in the scope of such work, both for the sake of the coral and to enable assistance from one’s peers. After all, with hundreds of researchers working on the same disease, it’s more than likely that at least one person has encountered the same issue.