Leaders make mistakes. That is a truth and an inevitability. It is what happens after the mistake that saves and even enhances your reputation, or destroys it. It may be a human tendency to evade blame, go around the wagons, distract and spin, but avoidance techniques, if they work, will only serve to make the repair work more. Recent evidence suggests that those in the public eye could use a few reminders about the basics of issuing a public apology to stop the bleeding of a reputation under fire for a careless statement or wrongdoing.

Take for example rapper DaBaby’s recent apology for his comments aimed at criticizing anyone who attended his concert who might be on the verge of death, as he put it, from HIV/AIDS. After receiving immediate backlash for the impromptu insults, the rapper first blamed social media for the ensuing uproar, saying “people want to tear you down before you have a chance to grow up, educate yourself and learn from your mistakes.” He didn’t even admit a mistake or issue an effective apology, before complaining that he hadn’t been able to quell the outrage.

Or consider the head of the Michigan Republican Party blaming the “increasingly virulent political environment” after he was recorded calling his state’s three highest-ranking female leaders “witches.” Unsurprisingly, none of the “apologies” they continued to issue were well received.

So what are the key elements to remember in an effective apology?

1. Authenticity: You will notice that in both of these examples and in many others, the blame is shifted elsewhere. A “sorry” cannot be followed by a “but” and be effective. (Side note, which also includes those who attempt and issue the twisted apology “to anyone offended,” another all-too-often-used qualifier. This indicates that the one apologizing is blaming another party, as if there were some persistent doubt as to the offense of the word or action).
2. damage recognition: For an apology to be considered sincere, there has to be some acknowledgment of harm to another person, whether intentional or not. The responsible person has to show that he understands what he has done, the impact of it on others, and not simply issue an apology that listeners believe is merely a bow to pressure.
3. do the right thing: What are you going to do, to the best of your ability, to repair the damage done? As an offender, it is your responsibility to not only ask for forgiveness, and regardless of whether it is granted, to correct the situation whenever possible. Remember, it is not up to the aggrieved to forgive and move on. It is up to you as the offender to apologize in a meaningful way, to understand the harm so that it is not repeated, and to do what you can to earn that forgiveness through action.

For those in leadership positions in particular, mastering the true public apology is essential. Reputations, careers, and entire companies and organizations can take enormous damage after a crisis of trust, no matter how long before the stumble you’ve spent building a solid reputation.

It will not be easy. If apologizing for mistakes were, there wouldn’t be so many easy examples found almost daily of public apologies gone wrong. As those headlines will tell you, it seems we’ve decided that even a poorly worded and delivered “sorry” should be good enough, but it never is. Actually, it never has been.

Recognize that any public figure or leader in any field, in any capacity, may find themselves in the position of needing to apologize. Even if the harm was not done by the leader of an organization, as a leader you will be judged if you take responsibility for words or actions that harm others.

Whether through a lack of humility or a simple inability to own up to the damage, the landscape is littered with those who have destroyed years of hard-fought gains in public reputation with the lack of a meaningful apology. Remember the basics of an effective apology so that the reputation you care about most isn’t one of them.