How to deal with scheduling conflicts - tip 1: Never Apologize!
That is a weird tip isn’t it? I know and it isn’t a universal tip. If you bump into someone on the train please DO apologize. If you you forget your girlfriends birthday I suggest you apologize profusely.
But in a business-situation you better not apologize.
A few years ago I had a meeting with a manager from a large company and I was a few minutes late. So as I sat down I started to explain why I was late and how sorry I was. He interrupted me and told me…
‘Never Apologize!’
I responded…
‘Excuse me?’
…
Then he explained
‘If you are late, missed a deadline or did something wrong the people who like and respect you will understand that you didn’t mean for this to happen. Your excuse will only embarrass them. The people who dislike you will take advantage of you putting yourself in that position. So don’t apologize. Just do better next time’
I never forgot his lesson and am frequently reminded of it in meetings. I see other people come in late and starting to apologize. It never looks good and they are always attacked or reprimanded by someone who dislikes them or is happy to finally get even.
If you are late for a meeting with several people don’t apologize when you enter the room. Just smile and sit down. Just act as if it is completely natural that you came in later. They will assume that whatever happened must have been mighty important, otherwise you would have made up an excuse and told that!
And don’t let it happen again.
If you are new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thank you for visiting and I am looking forward to hearing your comments!
Want to ask me a personal question? Contact me at boris@bomega.com
Subscribe to my Feed!
One Response to “How to deal with scheduling conflicts - tip 1: Never Apologize!”
Leave a Reply
Powered by
[...] I often forget things. I actually forget most things! Often, I don’t even remember what I did yesterday. And I’m not sorry! [...]