The following morning, our friend offered to make it better by inviting his son's friend over for breakfast. As our friend was making breakfast, he asked his son what he would say when his friend came over. His son thought about it for a minute and said, "I'm going to tell him 'I'm sorry for being such a poopy-head yesterday.' "
Our friend was floored - they had a very hard time discussing the previous day's play date when they had returned home. His son had gone to bed hurt and sad. Yet he was so proud his son was planning to apologize, without a whole lot of prompting.
When the friend arrived, his son stood up, walked over to greet his friend and said, "I'm sorry I was such a horrible person yesterday." To which, the friend apologized again and all was quickly resolved over waffles and strawberries. What a beautiful example.
Yes, it was a little simpler when we are children. And still "I am sorry" are arguably the three most powerful words we can say. These words are so important, they stand alone. Without any additional explanation there is a real vulnerability and humility we reveal when we apologize. We admit we were wrong and look for forgiveness.
As leaders, apologies are critical to the success of our organization. No one expects us to be perfect, yet because of our positional authority, we need to readily admit when we've made a mistake. The apology is almost more important because of our role and it demonstrates that we are committed to nurturing and cultivating relationships.
I wonder if there's anyone in our lives who needs to hear "I am sorry" from us this week. I wonder if there's anyone who's waiting for us to apologize. I wonder if there's anyone seeking our humility and vulnerability so they can offer us forgiveness.
Apologizing is not an easy thing to do. Perhaps the next time we need to apologize, we can begin by saying, "I'm sorry for being such a poopy-head."
Those really are powerful words.
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