You Always Have to Say "I'm Sorry."

Want to keep your unhappy clients from suing you? Apologize. Bob Sutton writes about the Virtues of Apologies and shares a NY Times article about how doctors and hospitals are reducing malpractice claims (by a sizable amount) by simply apologizing. Read the article and the post for some of the reasons why you should apologize.

What I want to share, though, is this gem from Bob's post:

[T]he best single diagnostic question fordetermining if an organization is learning and innovating as it movesforward is: What Happens When People Make a Mistake?

What's the answer for your firm?