Ever screw up beyond belief and had to figure a way to apologize? Whether it’s professional or personal, it’s a tough thing to do – but it needs to be done to put it behind you, move forward, and learn from it.
Here’s a very public apology that I thought was a good one.
Yeah, it doesn’t answer all the issues, but it certainly addresses the issue at hand and attempts to move forward.
This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our “solution” to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we’ve received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.
With deep apology to our customers,
Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Amazon.com