Transcript
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Welcome to the no Bullshit Leadership Podcast. In a world where knowledge has become a commodity, this podcast is designed to give you something more access to the experience of a successful CEO who has already walked the path. So join your host, Martin Moore, who will unlock and bring to life your own leadership experiences and accelerate your journey to leadership excellence.
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Welcome to Moments with Marty, your short, sharp shot of leadership insight to help you to stay on track between our weekly episodes of the no Bullshit Leadership Podcast. We all get things wrong sometimes, but if we apologised every time we made a mistake, we'd be forever grovelling to someone. When is it appropriate for a leader to stand up and say, hey, I got this wrong and I'm sorry? If you never apologise, you'll seem arrogant, disconnected and out of touch. But if you apologise too much, you'll appear weak, indecisive and ineffective. So how would you know when it's right to apologise for a decision you've made or a course of action you took that didn't quite work out? There are two really important principles that are going to help to guide you. The first is saying sorry is not a sign of weakness. In general, you shouldn't feel the need to apologise for having the courage to do the right thing just because it may be unpopular. But if you're conscious of the fact that saying sorry isn't inherently weak, and you do so at the appropriate times, your people will respect you enormously for that. The second principle is when you're employed in any role, you own that portfolio, along with all its history, problems and issues. This includes all the bad decisions, poor judgment and inexcusable behaviour of the leaders who've gone before you. Some of the commitments made by your predecessors may have to be reversed, and this may or may not require some sort of apology. For example, you may find the previous regime approved a project that has no likelihood of delivering satisfactory commercial returns, so you may have to kill it, as I've done in the past. That's something you should do unapologetically, because you're making a commercial decision which is in the best interest of the company. But your predecessor may have made other commitments, like verbal promises of advancement and promotion for a certain individual. Now, if you aren't in a position to want of these commitments, you probably should apologise for your predecessor's stupidity, if nothing else. As you get to higher levels of leadership, it becomes more and more difficult to strike the right balance between being unapologetic for the tough calls and having the sensitivity to know when to apologise. For example, when there's a crisis, you're going to find yourself surrounded by a bevy of well meaning advisers, each with their own particular perspective on how you should handle the situation. You might have your general counsel briefing you on the legal implications of anything you might choose to say in public. Then there's the PR team who will advise you on how to manage community and customer perceptions. Of course, there's investor relations who will be more than happy to remind you of the potential implications your words can have on the company's share price. And don't forget the line executives who all have a view about how the problem should be dealt with to best suit them, whether it's marketing operations or sales. It's easy to feel snookered by your advisors, but you have to shoulder personal accountability for the decisions that you're paid to make and you shouldn't apologise for that. Your language has to indicate ownership of every decision. To say I had no choice is a shit response, especially when you're apologising for something you've chosen to do rather than this. Your posture should be it was a tough choice, but one that had to be made, and I own that. Apologies are important, but don't let them become excuses. Accountability is everything. For more depth on this insight, have a listen to episode 188 of the no Bullshit Leadership podcast. It's hard to say sorry. In this episode I walk through seven really practical scenarios and tell you exactly how to handle each one. I really hope you enjoyed this moment and that gives you that extra little spark to be a no Bullshit leader.