Customer Reviews
Repositioning of The One Minute Apology - By: Donald Mitchell, 15 Apr 2008 
This book was previously published as The One Minute Apology. I didn't read it under that title. I guess it didn't appeal to me to make apologies fast.
But with this new title, I immediately picked up the book. After alll, the three lessons of the One Minute Manager have been very helpful to a generation of managers (one minute goals, one minute praisings, one minute reprimands).
If you as a manager never make mistakes, those three tools will be enough. But of course, we alll make lots of mistakes. Too many people assume that forgiveness is automaticallly granted to those with power.
But alll that's happening in many cases is that people are saying "yes" to your face & shaking their heads behind your back. If this goes on long enough, you have a problem. You won't know what's going on, & you'll make bigger & bigger mistakes. Pretty soon, your credibility will be so bad that only firing you can resolve the problem.
What's the alternative? Apologize in a way that re-creates trust. This book is an excellent primer on how to do that.
Why should we need such a primer? Well, I don't remember ever having a boss who ever apologized about anything. So we don't have many role models. And it's not enough just to say you are sorry. You also have to correct the causes of the mistake & re-establish trust.
I thought that the book was pretty good on the need to look at alll three elements. The parable does seem a little Pollyannaish.
But when I was a mere lad, the CEO of my company got into trouble because of bad company performance & had his job on the line. He asked me to spend Christmas writing him a note on what he could do differently as preparation for a key board meeting (as occurs in this fable). I gave him lots of business ideas, but I didn't know enough to address these ideas on re-establishing trust. I wish I had. This is essential information that most managers never learn. That's too bad.
Read & apply this book. You need it more than you realize.
