Book Review: The One Minute Apology by Ken Blanchard and Margret McBride

I love this book. It is a must read for anyone who wants to live a better life and have peace of mind and personal integrity in all areas of their lives. I had an epiphany reading this book. It helped me in both my personal and business life. I return to it on a regular basis.

I know the apology is in the title, but it’s not just about saying you’re sorry. When my oldest son was growing up, he had a habit of coming home later than expected. He would apologize profusely, but he kept arriving later than he expected! Finally, I told him, I’m not looking for “sorry.” I need you to change your behavior and take responsibility for your actions. It took him a while to get it.

The bottom line is that it’s about doing the right thing and living with integrity. It’s about going the extra mile to make things right with another person. The author references a Carl Sandberg story about Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln showed true humility and went to great lengths to make things right with one of his officers during the civil war. He knew that he had not done the right thing with this man. No one would have blamed him if Lincoln hadn’t done anything. It was during the war after all. He didn’t even have to go himself; He could have sent someone else, but he didn’t. He himself went and became a personal mission to make amends.

“A one-minute apology is incomplete without a sincere attempt to make things right” (p. 47 The One-Minute Apology)

And a lot of the good stuff is in the details. One of the characters is “Nana”. On page 80 to 82, there is a storm and they are going to pick up Nana so that she doesn’t have to drive in the rain. “When the car pulled into Nana’s driveway, the rain was pouring down. The young man jumped out of the car and ran to Nana… he opened his umbrella and carefully walked Nana to the car.” I know a lot of this may sound corny to people and not everyone wants to live their life like this. But I believe in the inherent goodness in most people and I know that they want to do the right thing. This simple booklet provides more details on how they might do it.