So something horrible happened.  Your product failed.  You made a mistake.  You said something wrong in an interview.  Everyone makes mistakes and the public can forgive if you follow these simple steps.

1. Admit to it.

Don’t hide it or try to cover it up.  That’s just asking for more trouble.

2. Apologize for it.

Tell people what happened (if you know) and tell them it shouldn’t have happened and that you are truely sorry for it.

3. Reassure

Make sure that people know that you understand the mistake and that it won’t happen again.  Let them know what you’ve done to fix the problem.

4. Investigate

If you don’t know what caused the problem, tell the people that you have already started to investigate what caused the issue.  Follow through on this investigation and give a good explanation of what you found and what you have done to fix it.

5. Take Responsibility

State very clearly that you or your company is to blame.  People like to give second chances once you’ve admitted to it and taken responsibility for it.  Show them that you are human too and they’ll respond well to that.

- John