#leadershiptruth – Apologize first.

One of the worst things about being a leader is that other people can act like assholes but you need to be the ‘grown-up’ in the situation. This is never more true than when you do something at work that is offside. Maybe you lose your cool in a meeting; maybe you overreacted to a situation; maybe you gossiped about one team member to another. Whatever the situation, if you’ve screwed up – even if you think it was justified and that the other person screwed up more – taking accountability and apologizing first for your mistake is an act of courageous leadership. I was once at a conference when a moderator royally screwed up an interview with a celebrity guest. Everyone was talking about the awkward mistake she’d made. The next day, she was moderating another celebrity conversation and opened with – what sounded like – a prelude to an apology. Instead, she shifted gears and didn’t apologize at all. Most of the audience was ready to support her for acknowledging her own screw-up. By not apologizing, they spent the remainder of the interview looking for all the other things she continued to do incorrectly. Apologize. It’s really not that hard, and people will respect you more for it. #leadershiptruth