I’ve written before about (1) the importance of sounding like a human in your communication, and (2) apologizing when you’ve upset someone. Author Daniel Pink points out in his Flip Manifesto that you can’t do the second if you don’t do the first.
“In the U.S., where physicians fret that every patient is a potential plaintiff in a malpractice lawsuit, lawyers counsel doctors never to admit a mistake. But evidence shows that when doctors apologize for an error and show how they’ll avoid it in the future—that is, when they talk and act like human beings—aggrieved patients think more highly of the physician and are less likely to sue.”
Humans make mistakes. When you make one yourself, be even more human, not less.