Before you give your next apology, consider some recent results of saying sorry.
After apologizing for his prime minister, an Australian was suddenly forced off-line. In Las Vegas a man who apologized was arrested and extradited. And Ohio teenagers - scheduled to court-ordered public apologies - were stopped by death threats.
Even Japanese, perhaps the most apologetic people on earth, now often refuse to do so at all when in the US. In short, the climate of the apology has been changing across much of the developed world.
The pressures against apologies are growing perhaps most in the lawyer-overrun environment of North America.
How strong are these pressures? What is the state of the common apology today? And what are the consequences of apologizing in this environment?
Apology is generally defined as an expression of regret, remorse, or sorrow for having insulted, failed, injured, or wronged another, and at other times as a defense, excuse or justification for some action.
Most people in Western cultures expect a true apology to contain several key elements, namely: a confession of error, a sincere statement of sorrow over hurt caused, a request for forgiveness, reparations for the error, and a sincere promise to not repeat the error.
But the risks of saying sorry are rising.
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