---
title: "Leadership Guide on Handling Mistakes"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/f4299543-fe1a-4006-89df-abb8049bcd32
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/how-to-apologize-if-youve-messed-up-a-leaders-guide-2716286
category: "General"
topics: ["People"]
published: 2021-07-27T15:10:00.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T02:25:14.975Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/fb622f48efb6c5cbfc7647dcd6c9165b4026.jpg
---

# Leadership Guide on Handling Mistakes

**TL;DR:** A leadership guide emphasizes the importance of apologizing sincerely and recognizing one's mistakes to recover from failures. Admitting mistakes is a characteristic of a good leader, and refusing to do so can damage relationships with employees, customers, and business partners.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2021-07-27. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/how-to-apologize-if-youve-messed-up-a-leaders-guide-2716286).*

## Story

We know the importance of putting our best foot forward, having an open and optimistic mindset, and being authentic in our actions.

What is more challenging, though, is recovering gracefully when we falter and mustering the courage to apologize sincerely.

And that will happen, manifested as an off-day, words spoken in haste or a wrong decision.

The ability to admit when you've made a mistake is one of the characteristics of a good leader.

If you refuse to recognize your mess-ups and make amends, employees, customers, and/or business partners will be less invested in continuing the relationship and more willing to walk away.

When you need to make a sincere apology:

- Acknowledge what you said or did was wrong.

- Take the time to apologize.

- Ask those impacted how you can make the situation better.

- Consider following up with a handwritten note.

- Change the behavior that got you to this point.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- General (sector)
- leadership guide (topic)
- mistake handling (topic)
- apology (topic)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/how-to-apologize-if-youve-messed-up-a-leaders-guide-2716286). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/f4299543-fe1a-4006-89df-abb8049bcd32).