I must point out that I did try to bring this one good action in light, and I agree and must point out that apologizing doesn’t mean it would make Yeltsin’s actions acceptable in any extend.

why don’t praise hitler’s rise of german economy? it is the same thing with him and yeltsin.

What I said was this: “Yeltsin was said to have publicly apologized from the people when he made mistakes. I think that’s an excellent lesson that any producer, leader, worker, or member in the team can use.”

I’m simply saying that if you never admit your mistakes, chances are people might not appreciate you as much as they might if you’d admit them. Simple example:

Mr. Boss makes mistakes. He doesn’t admit he made mistakes. He blames others. His team members know he is the one who should take responsibility, but he doesn’t.

Then Mrs. Leader makes mistakes. At some point she makes a bigger mistake and takes full responsibility and apologizes for what she did. In the future she will act differently – as she is the one who should have behaved differently.

Which one – Mr. Boss or Mrs. Leader – do you think is more appreciated?

P.S. And I also agree that Yeltsin did horrible job (worst issue mentioned according to other sources must have been Chechnya), but there’s also some true improvements (such as Russia’s economic system might have been a good one). But I’ll stop here the history lessons – those who want to argue whether he was failure in all ways or not might find some political forum a better place for the debate :)

Apologizing for mistakes and admitting failures is definitely part of building a career (unless you serve Darth Vader), but then there’s the opposite end of the spectrum.

I’ve worked with a few managers who took this suggestion too seriously and apologized for everything under the sun. At first it’s liberating, but after hearing an apology every other day, the team soon begins to doubt the effectiveness of the Leader which is even worse for a lot of obvious reasons.

ZeHa – yes, it’s basically the same. Good thoughts.

I think it’s the same thing in the end – if you are honest about your knowledge, you’ll get more appreciation, and if you admit your mistakes, you’ll get more appreciation as well, because people can see that you are reliable and they know with whom they deal.