Simply apologizing is hard enough; even more so if one must apologize in public.

So it often comes as an utter shock when a person of power, such as a manager or even a CEO, issues a public mea culpa. Academic research suggests that leaders are inclined to overestimate the costs of apologies and underestimate their benefits.

In fact, for decades, a standard business tactic has been comprised of the following ideology: Claim credit for the good, and pass blame for the bad. A scapegoat is appropriated for the latter.

Say a manager goes off on an individual during a meeting — for whatever reason: an employee constructively criticized the manager, or a junior VP opposed a senior member of an executive team, or simply due to a sarcastic comment made during the meeting. Later the offender is approached by other employees or members of the team and told he probably should apologize. "Bah! I have no reason to apologize!" the offender declares.

Well done, fella, your pride and/or embarrassment has gotten the best of you and you've managed to make things worse. You have just further damaged your relationship with the offended by refusing to apologize, and you may have just given yourself a reputation for hardheaded stubbornness and sidestepping.

Yet an apology, if effectively carried out, can reassure the offended or the hurt that the transgression is both understood and unlikely to be repeated.

For institutions, it is more difficult. Yet the above still applies. In fact, the opportunity to mend relationships and reputations via an apology is arguably even more important here.

In the United States, a company can apologize to a person, or group, who has been injured by a product or an employee without creating a legal liability for the company. Indeed, an appropriately worded apology can produce several positive effects.

For example, a recent Harvard Business School article points out, "apologies often defuse the anger of those who were injured or feel wronged." Barbara Kellerman, author of the article and research director of the Center for Public Leadership, notes a recent British study of malpractice patients, wherein 37 percent of respondents said they would never have gone to court in the first place had an explanation and an apology been extended. Likewise, a University of Missouri study showed that "contrary to the conventional wisdom — which is that a defendant in court is smart to avoid an admission of guilt — full apologies are more rather than less likely to result in quick settlements of lawsuits."

In fact, the more severe the injury, the more important the apology is to a resolution of the conflict.

Apologizing is not — repeat, is NOT — a sign of weakness. The HBS article makes note of a question posed by Wall Street Journal columnist Carol Hymowitz, in the wake of Carly Fiorina's ouster from Hewlett-Packard: "Is it suicidal to admit publicly that things haven't gone as expected and own up to mistakes?"

Should business leaders always appear confident, even invincible? Should they appear infallible?

Increasingly more CEOs seem to be sorry when something is wrong. Consider Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers, who apologized to service providers for not catering to their needs. Or look at Citigroup CEO Charles Prince, who traveled to Japan in fall 2004 and bowed in public to show regret for the company's regulatory wrongdoings.

Says the HBS article:

There are no strict rules on dealing with matters of the human condition. But by looking at both hard data and anecdotal evidence, we can establish some guidelines for when and how a leader should make a public apology.

How best to apologize depends on the nature of the situation. However, according to another Harvard Business School article, entitled "The Art of the Apology" and written by communications consultant Holly Weeks, apologies should involve three elements: 1) acknowledgment of a fault or an offense; 2) regret for it; and 3) responsibility for the offense.

No matter what, though, simply saying "I'm sorry" doesn't cut it. Do the work, and deliver a clear, direct apology, says HBS. "Don't hide behind vagueness, circumlocution, or clichés."

However done, a public apology always should serve an important individual, institutional, inter-group or moral purpose. Apologies create opportunities both for individual leaders and for companies to heal rifts and minimize damage — damage that often entails some serious financial costs, actually — whether the offense hurt an individual during an office meeting or a massive group of customers. Done right, a public apology can enhance relationships and reputations.

So a message to the big shots: Suck up your pride. Take responsibility. Show regret. And repair the damaged relationship and regain the credible reputation.

Resources

Mea Culpa!: A Course in Public Apology
by Barbara Kellerman
Harvard Business School, May 1, 2006
Excerpted from "When Should a Leader Apologize — and When Not?"
Harvard Business Review, Vol. 84, No. 4, April 2006.

The Art of the Apology
by Holly Weeks
Harvard Business School, May 19, 2003

My Bad!
by Chris Penttila
Entrepreneur, March 2005