My apologies
August 21st, 2006Folks, my apologies. I had done pretty well with the Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays schedule until week before last, and then I failed to keep my commitments. When Mike and I were plebes at West Point (almost 30 years ago!) we were taught that we were not to speak unless spoken to, and when spoken to, were to respond with one of four answers: “Yes sir!” “No sir!” “No excuse sir!” and “Sir I do not understand!”
One guess what the right answer is today.
I’ll make up for it this week and next…because “Sir, I stopped thinking!” is not one of my four answers.
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August 21st, 2006 at 1:28 pm
“Sir, I do not understand” what you are apologizing for.
August 21st, 2006 at 2:27 pm
50 lahes with a wet noodle. Oops, Mike sold them too quickly. If I had a nickel for everytime I fumbled a followthrough, I’d do it more often.
August 21st, 2006 at 6:03 pm
So, what you’re demonstrating to us, is not failure on your part, but rather that you have a life. Instead of sticking to a rigid schedule of T, Th, SA, why not treat your schedule as a goal, not a contractual agreement with us? Then don’t feel bad if something else comes up, whether it’s business related or family related. I was just reading a blog and the blogger warned us that posts “will be fairly light for the rest of the week.” He didn’t explain why, and I don’t need to know why.
Being disappointed by lack of posts is greatly diminished for those of us who use RSS. If anyone out there is still bookmarking blogs and then trying to read them on a regular basis, let me suggest Bloglines or Feedblitz.
August 22nd, 2006 at 3:04 pm
Gee, I’d fail miserably then. Two things I believe-It’s better to ask forgiveness then to beg for permission!
(Okay not really but hey why not try it) My second usual answer, and this one drives my wife nuts–”Hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time!!”
September 30th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
Mike and Mark,
Have you considered doing a podcast on the components of an effective apology? Certainly we all have made tremendous missteps and then compounded the blunder by not being able to recover a relationship. My experience is that many people do not know how to give an apology and I would love to hear your take on this.
October 1st, 2006 at 2:30 pm
Anonymous -
As it happens, we have and will. If you’d like my personal take on one such, Here’s an example of a recent apology I made to someone who was offended by something I said.
Please accept my humble apologies for my egregious gaffe. I was wrong, my comments to you were ill-advised, and I’m genuinely sorry for my comments.
Further, I trebled my error by doing so on your blog - it exacerbated my rudeness. There’s simply no excuse for it.
The “forum” issue reminds me of the story of the English reporter who happened upon an MP - whom he had recently editorially excoriated - in a washroom. He apologized:
“My dear chap,” he said, embarrassed, “I was wrong. Here and now, I wish to apologize.”
The MP replied:
“Very well. But next time, I wish you’d insult me in the washroom, and apologize in your newspaper.”
I hope my public mea culpa here reaches that standard.
With every hope of reconciliation, I am,
Regretfully yours,
Mark
We all flounder at times, and when one says as much as I have and do, and takes positions on virtually all things related to management, one is bound to offend from time to time.Apologies are a valuable behavioral tool, and sincerity is their underpinning.
Coming soon to a cast near here!
Mark
October 2nd, 2006 at 12:56 am
Thank you, Mark.
I am pleased to see that you take ownership of the event in your sample apology with the simple unvarnished “I was wrong”. The classic un-apology “I am sorry that you were offended” is so ineffective that I wonder why people bother with the effort. I look forward to hearing more about this in a future cast.
Yours very sincerely,
Edward