Stop Apologizing: For Your Personal Brand
Do you find yourself saying “Sorry” a lot?
A recent Canadian study showed that women apologize almost twice as much as men. Why? Contrary to what you might expect, it isn’t because we are conditioned to say “sorry” more. It is that we think we have committed offenses far more often than men think they have.
I recently received an email that began, “I apologize for intruding on your email…” While this person was trying to be polite, it had the opposite effect, making me at once question whether there was indeed an intrusion.
Here are some apologies I’ve received via email or Facebook recently:
“I’m sorry to be so negative but…”
“I apologize if I offend you when I say…”
“Sorry to be cheesy but…”
Often people resort to an apology to prove self-awareness, as if saying, “I’m self-aware enough to know that this email could seem cheesy…” but the intent and the result more on Forbes…