Beyond Sorry: How to Own Up, Make Good, and Move Forward After a Crisis

Book excerpt: Everybody messes up. In relationships. In business. In life. It's a fact of human nature that we're flawed. People aren't inherently bad, but humans tend to do a lot of bad things. Everyone has engaged in behavior they're not proud of. We all have secrets, and we're all prone to traits and impulses we wish we didn't have. History, literature, and music for centuries have given us examples of falls from grace, tragedies, and fatal flaws. And then came the digital age. With the proliferation of social media, so much of our personal and professional behavior can suddenly find itself in the public view. What we do personally affects us professionally and vice versa. The human tendency to fail those who trust us has changed from a personal crisis to one with a large audience often clamoring for some measure of retribution. As humans, professionally and personally, we find ourselves at risk of lasting reputational damage if we don't find a way to recover and move forward. Beyond Sorry: How to Own Up, Make Good, and Move Forward After a Crisis lays out the framework for people to offer sincere and lasting apologies that can help turn around their careers or personal lives in the digital age. Redemption of one's reputation isn't easy. It takes more than a simple apology. That's what going beyond sorry means: taking the extra steps to ensure you can fight all the hurdles in your way. Beyond Sorry explores the steps one needs to take to move forward, including finding the right words, delivering the message with credibility, taking ownership of our actions and behaviors, and living a life that shows those around us that we're worthy of another chance.