9 Apologies Every Leader Will Have To Make

Making mistakes is part of leadership. Knowing how to own them and apologize for them is a leadership skill most people never learn.

In this video, I break down nine (yes, nine!) apologies every leader will eventually have to make. From owning a bad decision or broken promise to apologizing for not listening, waiting too long to act, or handling a difficult situation poorly. We’ll also cover the harder apologies: taking responsibility for your team’s mistakes, addressing painful decisions like layoffs and reorganizations, and even apologizing on behalf of an entire organization.

More importantly, I’ll show you what makes an effective apology actually work. Research on leadership, psychological safety, trust, and corporate apologies reveals that the best apologies don’t explain away responsibility. They acknowledge what happened, own what needs to be owned, and make clear what changes next.

You’re going to get things wrong. The question is whether your response rebuilds trust...or gives people another reason to lose it.

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One of the world’s leading business thinkers, David’s forward-thinking ideas and bestselling books are changing how companies approach leadership, teamwork, and collaboration.

An organizational psychologist and professor at Columbia University, Dr. David Burkus is the bestselling author of five books about business and leadership. His books have won multiple awards and have been translated into dozens of languages. Since 2017, David has been ranked multiple times as one of the world’s top business thought leaders. His insights on leadership and teamwork have been featured in the Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, CNN, the BBC, NPR, and CBS Mornings.

David now works with leaders from organizations across all industries, including PepsiCo, Fidelity, Adobe, and NASA. David’s keynotes aren’t just entertaining and enlightening—they’re evidence-based and immensely practical, offering leaders at all levels a set of actionable takeaways they can implement immediately.

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