A reputation can survive one mistake more easily than one cover-up.

People are surprisingly forgiving of error and surprisingly unforgiving of concealment. A mistake tells them you are human; a cover-up tells them your instinct under pressure is to protect yourself at their expense, which is information they will apply to everything afterward. The second is much harder to recover from because it is about character rather than performance.

When something has gone wrong, get to it first and describe it plainly. Say what happened, what it cost, and what you are doing about it. Disclosure early is almost always cheaper than discovery later.