Businesses Need To Learn To Apologize

from the we're-sorry dept

Wed, Sep 3rd 2003 11:58am — Mike Masnick

For all the corporate scandals that have been showing up lately, there have been very few apologies. In many cases any official "apology" is more of an anti-apology - trying to explain why they did what they did or blame others instead. However, some companies are starting to realize that an honest apology goes a long way. People and companies screw up - and admitting that you screwed up and have learned from the lesson gains a lot more future trust than denying any culpability to the very end. There's an example of Toro, the lawn mower company, that started a new policy over a decade ago of apologizing for any mishap involving their lawn mowers - even if it's no fault of their own. Instead of fighting it and litigating every claim, they start with an apology and move to mediation. They say that many people just want to be heard and feel that the company got the message. Of course, part of the reason that companies don't apologize is that they fear that they're admitting guilt in the legal sense, which could open them up to additional lawsuits. This seems like another case where the corporate lawyers' interests may not be properly aligned with the best business interests of the company.

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