Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Leaders with responsibility for organizations, teams, tasks, and personal relationships. That includes executives, managers, and team leaders, as well as anyone interested in becoming more effective by improving their professional and personal relationships.

Q: What is the book about?
A: This is a guidebook to effective apology. The central conclusion of Effective Apology is that the willingness and ability to apologize are critical requirements of leaders today. The book supports this conclusion with over 75 examples of apology, both effective and ineffective, taken from the worlds of business, politics, sports, popular culture, and relationships. Leaders who believe that accountability, transparency, and humility are the hallmarks of modern leadership must understand the role apology plays in earning confidence, maintaining trust, and repairing mistakes.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: As a practicing business journalist for over 30 years, I’ve had the opportunity to study thousands of companies and their leaders. Many years ago I began to notice something interesting. Organizations and leaders that had a culture of apology and taking responsibility for their mistakes tend to be more successful than those which resist apologizing and deny responsibility.

I have also seen that personal relationships follow the same pattern. Marriages, friends, parent-child relationships all benefit when one or both parties know how to apologize. I have been successfully married for 34 years not because I haven’t made any mistakes, but because I have a certain capacity for taking responsibility for those mistakes and apologizing sooner rather than later.

This book brings together my professional and personal experiences to support my conclusion that apology is not free, but it’s less expensive than the alternatives of lying, denial, spinning, and stonewalling.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: Effective Apology is a practical, hands-on fieldbook on how to apologize. It offers practical suggestions, lists, suggested wording, and concrete advice on when to apologize and how to apologize in a variety of recognizable situations. Other books on apology tend to be philosophical or academic.

My book is hands-on. It shows you what to say and what not to say. It focuses on the role of apology in repairing relationships and further reconciliation. The book argues that there is but one test of effective apology: does the apology tend to repair the relationship that has been strained and support the eventual reconciliation of the parties.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: The book defines apology as the practice of extending yourself because you value the relationship more than you value the need to be right.

How do you know when you have apologized? Try this test.

Did you state in plain language what you did wrong? Did you accept responsibility for those errors without defensiveness or hedging? Did you express remorse (“I’m sorry”) in direct and personal terms? Did you offer appropriate restitution? Did you promise not to repeat the offense?

If your apology embraces each of these five components, you have offered a wholehearted apology. The book describes these five steps as the Five Rs: Recognition (“yes, I lost the cell phone you I borrowed from you.”), Responsibility (“I’m responsible. I was thoughtless with your property.”), Remorse (“I’m sorry.”), Restitution (“Of course, I’ll replace your phone.”), and Repetition (“I promise to be more careful in the future”).

Apology in a networked world is about giving up the desire to control the conversation. The willingness to apologize signals strength, character, and integrity—real leadership is impossible without it. Human progress occurs one apology at a time.

More information about the book is available www.effectiveapology.com

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Executives, emerging leaders, managers, business owners, and any professional who aspires to one day lead a company or work in a management role.

Q: What is the book about?
A: In today’s turbulent economy, more managers and executives than ever need to become leaders of employees – and that requires they know how to motivate and inspire a workforce like the most forward-thinking CEO.

“Motivating like a CEO” means connecting people with purpose and passion toward a common goal. This book addresses the necessity for leaders to discover purpose; communicate it to employees in a clear and powerful way; connect them to it in a shared sense of purpose; and help them fulfill their own, individual purposes.

Motivate Like a CEO will show you how to:
• Inspire people to embrace and share your vision
• Speak with energy and confidence in tough situations
• Turn challenges into opportunities
• Get your team engaged, in the loop, and tracking real results
• Make time in your schedule for sharing your message of motivation throughout your company

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: As the founder and CEO of Bates Communications, Inc., I’ve worked with top leaders and CEOs of companies from the Fortune 500 to startups on improving their communication skills. My team helps these leaders and emerging leaders deliver powerful speeches, successful sales presentations, impactful media interviews, and develop strategic communications plans. Over the years, we’ve noticed one factor that makes successful companies stand out from the rest – their leaders’ ability to motivate and inspire employees, customers, and stakeholders in any situation.

My first book, the bestselling Speak Like a CEO (McGraw Hill 2005), addressed the qualities leaders need to speak with impact and command attention. What evolved from that book was the need to address the motivational aspect of leadership communications. The companies that are going to succeed through these turbulent times are the ones whose leaders tell a genuine story, get people connected with a purpose and a vision, and inspire employees to discover their own passion. These are the companies that will achieve their strategic goals. Now, more than ever, I think this is essential for getting our economy back on track and rejuvenating our workforce.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: There are many books out there on motivation, and quite a few more on how to speak effectively, but this book ties in the two. I also wrote the book with executives and a business audience in mind, and interviewed dozens of successful CEOs and leaders who have found the “secret” to engaging their employees to achieve strategic goals.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: For me, one of the most exciting aspects of writing the book was being able to tell these unique, wonderful stories of CEOs and leaders who really “get it” – it being how to motivate and inspire. Some of the stories featured are those of the CEOs of Raytheon, Dow Chemical, and The North Face. One of the stories featured is that of a former executive of United Health who used the power of motivation and communicating a vision to get the entire company on board and “jazzed” about changing a long-standing operating procedure.

Lastly, I’m proud to announce that the book has been endorsed by many leading business authors (Marshall Goldsmith, Charles H. Green, Ken Blanchard) and CEOs themselves. Their thoughts can be found here: http://www.bates-communications.com/motivate/endorsements.php

More about the book can be found on my website: www.bates-communications.com/motivate/ or just by checking it out on amazon.com.