Tuesday Edition
On a trip away from Lake Wobegon, Garrison Keillor took time to talk to us at tompeters.com. He and Erik had a great conversation about his latest book, A Christmas Blizzard, and many other topics, including a note from Julie Christie. We know you'll enjoy reading his Cool Friends interview.
|
Announcements | XML
Blogging | XML
Brand You | XML
Branding | XML
Cool Friends | XML
Design | XML
Education | XML
Entrepreneurs | XML
Excellence | XML
Execution | XML
General | XML
Healthcare | XML
Innovation | XML
Leadership | XML
Marketing | XML
Markets | XML
News | XML
Service | XML
Strategies | XML
Success Tips | XML
Talent | XML
Technology | XML
Tom's Slides | XML
Tom's Travels | XML
Trend$ | XML
What Tom's Reading | XML
WOW! Projects | XML
Get the Blog Feed
Get the Comments RSS
What is RSS?
The 26th Story
800-CEO-Read
Ageless Marketing
andHow To Reach Women
Katya Andresen
Tom Asacker
Asiabizblog
Jordan Ayan
Martha Barletta
Dave Barry
Ed Batista
Becker-Posner
The Big Picture
The Bing Blog
Blog Critics
John Bogle
BoingBoing
Boomer411
Brand Autopsy
Chris Brogan
BusinessPundit
BW Brand New Day
BW Management IQ
BW The Tech Beat
Cali and Jody
Ben Casnocha
Change This
Church of the Customer
Clear Path International
Conversation Agent
Cooking for Engineers
Copy Blogger
Core77
Coudal Partners
Mark Cuban
Aubrey Daniels
Design Gazette, jkr.co.uk
design*sponge
Jory Des Jardins
Betsy Devine
Don the Idea Guy
Dooce
Down the Avenue
Daniel W. Drezner
Esther Dyson
eHub
Frank Eliason
Judith Ellis
English Cut
Enterprise Media
Evhead
Steve Farber
Fast Company
Fast Lane
Brad Feld
The Fischbowl
Richard Florida
Ze Frank
Freakonomics
Free Business Tips
Gil Friend
gapingvoid
Dan Gillmor
Global Neighborhoods
Seth Godin
Good Experience
Gothamist
Great Leadership
Alan Gregerman
Health Affairs
Health Beat
The Health Care Blog
Dick Heller
Hyperthinker
IDEO Eyes Open
iinnovate
Influx Insights
Innovate on Purpose
In Pursuit of Elegance
Instapundit
The Intuitive Life
Isenblog
Joi Ito
Rich Karlgaard/Forbes
Josh Kaufman
Guy Kawasaki
Leading Blog
Learned on Women
Jonah Lehrer
Martin Lindstrom
Chris Locke
The Long Tail
Made to Stick
John Maeda
Management by Baseball
MarketingProfs:DailyFix
Marketing to Boomer Women
Mavericks at Work
The Messaging Times
Metacool
Nick Morgan
Name Wire
Mike Neiss
Netwoman
No Bullet Points
The Nudge Blog
Nuts about Southwest
John O'Leary
Persistence Unlimited
Personal Branding
Dan Pink
Pink Slip
Play the Game of Life
Pollster
John Porcaro
Portfolio Careers
Virginia Postrel
Power Line
Presentation Zen
PSFK
Pyromarketing
Mitch Ratcliffe
Fred Reichheld
ResearchBuzz
Retailer Blog
Jennifer Rice
Dan Roam
Kevin Roberts
Scott Rosenberg
Rules of Thumb
Samizdata
Ian Sanders
Tim Sanders
Todd Sattersten
Mary Schmidt
Robert Scoble
Scripting News
Doc Searls
Andy Sernovitz
Rajesh Setty
Stephen Shapiro
Signal vs. Noise
Slashdot
Simplicity
Smart Mobs
Sorted Books
Springwise
Halley Suitt
Andrew Sullivan
Sustainable Work
Bob Sutton
The Talent Code
TechCrunch
The Technium
Third Age
Trend Hunter
Trend Watching
Trump University
Penelope Trunk
Trusted Advisor
Twist Image
Web Worker Daily
David Weinberger
What's Next
Susan Willett Bird
The Wisdom of Improv
WonderBranding
Wooster Collective
Steve Yastrow
Your White Room

In What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful, Marshall Goldsmith proclaims: "I regard apologizing as the most magical, healing, restorative gesture human beings can make. It is the centerpiece of my work with executives who want to get better."
All I can add is:
Amen!
I believe that skill at Apologizing is nothing short of a "strategic competence"!
"Strategic competence"? Absolutely! Customers lost for want of a timely and sincere "I'm sorry. My fault" number in the billions, from restaurant diners to aircraft engine purchasers.
And now there's an entire book on the topic arriving May 1, Effective Apology: Mending Fences, Building Bridges, and Restoring Trust, by John Kador.
Read a whole book on the topic?
Yes!
Damn it!
Stra-te-gic-com-pe-tence!
In addition to being an excellent "how to" guide, the book also captures hard evidence. For example, with a new policy on apologies, Toro, the lawn mower folks, reduced the average cost of a claim from $115,000 in 1991 to $35,000 in 2008—and the company hasn't been to trial since 1994. The VA hospital in Lexington, Massachusetts, developed an astonishing approach to apologizing for errors (forthcoming—even when no patient request or claim was made). In 2000, the overall mean VA system malpractice settlement was $413,000. The Lexington VA hospital settlement # was $36,000—and there were far fewer per patient claims to begin with.
Not only does a sincere apology make you feel much better about yourself (top marks on the "ability-to-look-in-the-mirror" test), but it fattens your wallet in the process (or, rather, keeps said wallet from getting skinny).
While visiting Amazon to get John Kador's formal pub date (Kindle on May 1, too!), I came across a reference to another apparent gem on the topic, On Apology, by psychiatrist Aaron Lazare. Here are excerpts from a couple reviews: "This unique book is sure to set a reader thinking on many levels, but its ultimate message is the meaning and the magically transformative power of what would seem on the surface to be a simple apology. No one who becomes familiar with Dr. Lazare's perceptive interpretations will forget his sensitivity and wisdom."—Sherwin B. Nuland, MD, author of How We Die [TP: Nuland is fabulous]. "This jewel of a book reveals the many facets of the seemingly simple act of apology. ... Drawing on a vast array of literary and real-life examples, from Agamemnon to George Patton to Arnold Schwarzenegger, from the current pope to the machinist who approached him after a lecture, Lazare lucidly dissects the process of apology. ... Everybody on earth could benefit from this small but essential book."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Read two whole books on the topic?
Yes!
Damn it!
Stra-te-gic-com-pe-tence!
Any comments on your experience with apologies?
NB: Tom mounts his Preakness winning hobby horse again! Women are far far far far far far far far better-instinctive at this than we guys! [One of many reasons that women are better salespeople than men.] [Preakness? I was born in Baltimore; we barely acknowledge Kentucky's preliminary race.]
[Above: My notion of hotel room "windows that open wide"—Amsterdam, canal view; not that there are many non-canal views!]
Before blogging became all the rage, Tom was posting book reviews and Observations (essentially early blog posts) to this site. You can find the archives below.
What we're talking about
on the front page.
Comments
Posted by RobCH at April 23, 2009 5:20 AM
Posted by Dan Gunter at April 23, 2009 6:45 AM
Posted by Dan Gunter at April 23, 2009 7:30 AM
Posted by Useless Sam Grant at April 23, 2009 8:04 AM
Posted by Dan Gunter at April 23, 2009 8:14 AM
Posted by jb at April 23, 2009 9:22 AM
Posted by Ben at April 23, 2009 10:57 AM
Posted by John O'Leary at April 23, 2009 2:00 PM
Posted by Neil Connolly at April 23, 2009 2:07 PM
Posted by Luc Galoppin at April 23, 2009 2:58 PM
Posted by Trevor Gay at April 23, 2009 5:15 PM
Posted by Dan Gunter at April 23, 2009 6:01 PM
Posted by Trevor Gay at April 24, 2009 4:08 AM
Posted by Cole Coconino II at April 24, 2009 1:27 PM
Posted by Cole Coconino II at April 24, 2009 1:29 PM
Posted by Trevor Gay at April 24, 2009 2:29 PM
Posted by Trevor Gay at April 24, 2009 2:45 PM
Posted by Judith Ellis at April 24, 2009 3:55 PM
Posted by Judith Ellis at April 24, 2009 9:08 PM
Posted by Dan Gunter at April 25, 2009 12:11 AM
Posted by Judith Ellis at April 25, 2009 8:07 AM
Posted by Judith Ellis at April 25, 2009 8:11 AM
Posted by John Kador at April 26, 2009 10:06 AM
Posted by Dan Gunter at April 26, 2009 3:16 PM
Posted by RobCH at April 27, 2009 12:58 AM
Posted by Dan Gunter at April 27, 2009 6:54 AM
Posted by Trevor Gay at April 27, 2009 12:05 PM
Posted by Dan Gunter at April 27, 2009 1:09 PM
Posted by Judith Ellis at April 27, 2009 1:09 PM
Posted by Trevor Gay at April 27, 2009 2:29 PM
Posted by erik at April 27, 2009 2:38 PM
Posted by Judith Ellis at April 27, 2009 3:03 PM
Posted by Judith Ellis at April 27, 2009 3:26 PM
Posted by jimjam at May 1, 2009 11:18 PM
Posted by Ben Ridler at May 3, 2009 11:54 PM
Posted by Mike Wadley at May 10, 2009 10:59 PM