The dangers of seeing apologies as a sign of weakness

When a culture develops that makes admitting mistakes and making apologies feel like a sign of weakness, not strength, we end up in a situation where people lie, pass blame and try to cover up their mistakes. If people, instead, feel secure enough to admit their mistakes, a team can quickly rally round them to rectify the situation before it escalates beyond the point of no return.

This is where leadership is so important, Ministers are our example setters; if they go on covering up, passing blame, showing no contrition, so will those below them - and that is very dangerous in the middle of a health pandemic. Come on Boris, admit to the mistakes you’ve made and say sorry, just once, please. We’ll respect you ten times more if you do.