The full title of this book by Ken Blanchard and Margaret McBride is
“The One Minute Apology: A Powerful Way to Make Things Better“.
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I rated the book as worth Four Stars. This means it is Good and Well Worth Reading.
Here is my book review.
The apology starts by admitting that you’ve made a mistake and will take responsibility for your actions.
This book, like the other One Minute Manager books, is told in the form of a story and it makes some powerful points in an entertaining way.
According to management guru Brian Tracy, “I was wrong” are three of the most important words that a manager can learn to say.
This book helps you admit that you were wrong and to apologise for what has happened. The big issue seems to be that admitting you are wrong means that you have to accept responsibility for what has happened which can be difficult. Once you have admitted your mistakes and apologised for the impact they made on someone else, you can move forward to putting things right.
This is an essential part of life and just as important in our private lives as it is in business when our mistakes affect customers, staff, suppliers and other stakeholders.
It has been shown that admitting mistakes to customers, apologising and putting problems right can turn a harsh critic into a major advocate.
The story is that profits are down and the President of the company has made some mistakes. The company is in crisis and in a showdown meeting with his board of directors, the President refuses to accept responsibility.
A new meeting is scheduled for three days time after the weekend and the President is asked to “consider his position.” Fortunately the president has an ally in the meeting. A young assistant who is shocked at what happened but knows the One Minute Manager, an old family friend and arranges to visit for the weekend. While the assistant is away, the One Minute Manager and his family teach him the secrets of the One Minute Apology and then the assistant helps his boss accept what has happened.
The book also includes the story about how Alfred Noble read his own obituary in a newspaper. His brother had died and a newspaper made a mistake and mixed up the achievements of the two brothers. He found that he was destined to be remembered as the man who invented dynamite! Since he didn’t want his main legacy to be associated with destruction, he redesigned his life and created the Nobel Peace Prize so that he would be remembered as the man who promoted world peace.
This is an important book and if you like the One Minute style, I recommend it highly. Others may find the story too twee for their liking.
It is available to buy from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.
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