What a good company apology actually looks like

What a good company apology actually looks likeWhat a good company apology actually looks likeAfter badeanstalt news hits, a companys public statement is where companies can convince us of their mea culpas and of what on Earth they were thinking when they made the decision earning them bad press. Many times, we do notlage buy it. A June survey of Facebook, Uber, and Wells Fargo corporate apologies found that less than 35% of people who viewed the companies penitent ads actually accepted their apologies. Even when the bad news does not directly involve the company, the companys response still matters. A companys silence on immigration policies and national politics can have unseen effects on company morale. Too often, companies are silent. They become ostriches sticking their heads in the sand, deciding they have no role in whatever is happening outside.Nicole Sanchezs job is to help businesses go beyond silence and thats not my problem. As a lecturer on workplace diversity at UC Berk eleys Haas School of Business who has served as Vice President of Social Impact at GitHub, Nicole Sanchez is the founder of Vaya Consulting where she teaches business leaders how to demonstrate care to their employees when they face internal and external crises. She talked with Ladders on how companies can do a public apology the right way1. Have a menschenwrdig say the apologyWe have all read a robotic public statement from a leader that was obviously written by a public relations team.The bare minimum that were looking for is that the statement comes from an actual human, Sanchez says.Some companies do not even meet this basic standard. In November, the embattled movie subscription service MoviePass sent an apologetic email to users over retooling its business model through a dog named Chloe. From time to time you may have had a ruff experience, the dog said. If business leaders want audiences to accept their apologies, they need to first own up to apologizing through a human voic e.2. Own the apologyOnce you get a real human to voice the apology, you must act human and treat the apology with the severity it deserves.You have to share in peoples disgust that this is happening and communicate that you share the disgust. Otherwise, you sound like someone who is covering something up, Sanchez says.The good apology starts with saying sorry without qualifiers. I am so sorry. Period. Thats it. Not Im so sorry that you interpreted it that way, Sanchez says. Not I am so sorry you were sensitive.A good apology is not sorry with the padding of for the offense it caused.Next time you are scanning a companys mollifying statement, look for the words, Im sorry to be stated without amendment.3. State how the business will be held accountableApologies do not end after saying sorry. After the words of contrition comes the work of accountability of how you the business leader will stop the problem causing an apology from happening again.I would like to see more executives take a personal stand and use their own authentic words, not only to apologize, but to say heres what we are doing now, Sanchez said. Apologies are often backward-looking. Everything is in the passive voice. Mistakes were made. And you go, and who is being held accountable? For the type of apology made after workers are treated badly, you can look at Google CEOs Sundar Pichais apology as one where more could be done. Pichai reportedly issued an internal memo after a New York Times report found an executive got a $90 mio exit package despite a sexual harassment claim. In the apology, Pichai said that he was deeply sorry for the past actions and noted that 48 people had been fired over the past two years without getting an exit package.It is good to acknowledge that you are sorry, but you can be better if you own up to the main story of sexual harassment over the side issue of who got an exit package. They go for the technicalities and try and discredit activists on the technicalities in stead of going for the root of the issue. The story is Stop the behavior happening in this company, Sanchez says about this sidestep.The lesson? A better apology does not focus on technicalities like who did or did not get an exit package, it focuses on how the company will stop the problem.4. State what you will do moving forwardMany times, apologetic companies are not transparent about how exactly they are going to be better. That obfuscation is by design. In my experience as a tech executive, Sanchez says, You have a lot of people who are incentivized to mitigate risk in your ear saying, Dont make this promise because if we then cant do it someone will come back and sue us. Dont use that word because the press will throw it back in our face six months later if we are unable to do it.But good leaders who understand their corporate responsibility know when to break away from what is risky to do what is right. Sanchez outlines a template of how an apology with future accountability could be done in a statement like I am so sorry. It is clear that this has been happening. This has now become my number one priority to figure out how we got to this point and to bring our resources to bear on ensuring a safe workplace for everyone. Moving forward, what we are doing is elevating the people who deal in workplace complaints. They are now directly reporting to me.Elevating the position signals that this is a high priority for the companys decision makers. Leaders can also be transparent by saying that they will be meeting with the people involved regularly about the problems progress. Or they can do Uber did and bring in people like former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder after their scandal to investigate what went wrong.You can be open that you do not have all the answers, but as a leader, you have to publicly commit to making the change. The goal is for the company to signal that they are living up to their new values and are taking the charges seriously. Employee s and outsiders will start to believe the apology once these new values are shown.I think companies want too much credit for simply issuing a statement when lots of people were hurt, Sanchez says. Thats not where the gold stars are going to come from. They are going to come from people inside the company, saying, Oh it really is changing. From folks observing that change. And they are going to come from the leader saying heres the progress weve made, heres what was harder than we thought, but we are honest about making improvements.

4 Ways to Get the Most Value Out of Your Internship

4 Ways to Get the Most Value Out of Your Internship4 Ways to Get the Most Value Out of Your InternshipCompanies hire fr sichs every year for a variety of reasons. Among them Its a cost-effective way to increase production and a great way to evaluate potential hires. Simply Hired took on several interns this year in a successful two-month long internship program.Interns, being new to the working world, tend to need more guidance, particularly when it comes to attitude and etiquette. Many articles point out that, as an intern, you should be proactive, humble, helpful and more. We asked our Simply Hired summer interns to draw on their experience and share their thoughts about being an intern. We came up with five key takeaways.Time is moneyMost internships have an expiration date, whether it is six months or two. To make every minute count, go into your internship expecting to achieve concrete results, or ask for a concrete project. Being proactive is critical during an internship becau se the clock is ticking.Gustav, an engineering intern said, As long as you are there you want to get everything done ASAP and move onto the next project. If you dont put time constraints then you will never get anything done. Especially because things take longer than you expect.Beryl, a design intern, added that, Because time is limited, its hard to speed up the projects, so knowing theres an expiration date motivates me to work more efficiently.Grades arent relevant anymore In school your work is independent of others, and you work towards a grade. In the working world you become a part of a bigger picture. You work in a company, as part of a team, and your presence has an impact. Instead of being measured by grades you are evaluated by the quality of your work. To impress your manager you want to track and measure your impact.As you wrap up your internship you should not only think about the goals your supervisor has set for you but also the tangible results of your work. For ins tance, Gustav points out that although his project has not been fully launched yet, he expects it to increase repeat website visitors and time on page.When meeting with your manager for a conversation around your performance, you can discuss the impact of your work and ask for input. This habit is also beneficial for your resume as it showcases your achievements.Your company wants you to succeed Dont be intimidated. Ask questions, branch of out of your comfort zone, and voice your ideas. You might be tempted to stick with the other interns, who you view as your peers, but this is a mistake. Instead, take the opportunity to understand the nuances of the professional working world and build relationships with older coworkers. You are there because the company wants you to be there and values your input. Seize this opportunity to meet and work with as many people as possible.Recruiter Avni Shah said that, We hire interns so that way we can give college grads real world experience and f or the fresh perspective they bring.Mikhail, an engineering intern, said, Dont be intimidated. You are here to learn and everyone is there to help you learn. You should take advantage of that.Every internship has valueIf there is one thing any intern should do, its this learn about yourself. Did you enjoy your summer internship? And why? Is it because you work well in a certain environment? Did you find this industry interesting? Shreya, a business development intern, said that she chose an internship with Simply Hired because, The project here seemed like something I had not done before. I didnt want to repeat past internship experience. My main goal was to get more exposure to different types of work.If you arent interning for the money, the contacts or the opportunity to work on a cool project, then do it to better understand yourselfyour likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses and how you envision your career. Finish your internship knowing that you have come to understand yourself a little better.One final note for interns always ask your manager for contact information and a reference. Leave on a positive note, as you never know who will be helpful in the future. The relationship shouldnt end just because your internship did.Intrigued by this article? If you are interested in an internship, you can always find intern jobs on SimplyHired.com.Read related articles8 Career Benefits of an InternshipHow to Know When You Should Be Paid for an Internship

Ensuring Artificial Intelligence Helps Humanity

Ensuring Artificial Intelligence Helps Humanity Ensuring Artificial Intelligence Helps Humanity Ensuring Artificial Intelligence Helps HumanityArtificial intelligence shapes everything from the music we hear, to the web pages and news stories suggested to us, to whether taxis are nearby, to the way our cars drive, to the way we work. So how AI develops is more than a computer science issue. Its an issue for humans to grapple with.Now an kampagne between the MIT Media Lab and the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University seeks to ensure AI develops for the public good. It will collaborate on unbiased, evidence-based work on AI across disciplines and sectors, says Albert Ibargen, president and chief executive officer of the Knight Foundation, which is one of the efforts funders.Even when we dont know it, artificial intelligence affects virtually every aspect of our verrotten lives. Technology and commerce will ensure it will impact every society on earth, Ibar gen says. Yet, for something so influential, theres an odd assumption that artificial intelligence agents and machine learning, which enable computers to make decisions like humans and for humans, is a neutral process.Its elend, he says.Pepper is one of the new generation of engaging and friendly robots created to communicate with humans. Image PixabayArtificial intelligences rapid development brings many tough challenges, says Joi Ito, director of the MIT Media Lab.For example, how do we make sure that the machines we train dont perpetuate and amplify the same human biases that plague society? he asks. How can we best initiate a broader, in-depth discussion about how society will co-evolve with this technology, and connect computer science and social sciences to develop intelligent machines that are not only smart, but also socially responsible?Developing AI needs to be a joint effort that includes computer scientists, engineers, social scientists, ethicists, philosophers, faith le aders, economists, lawyers, and policymakers, he says.The Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Fundthe initiatives formal namewill address the challenges of artificial intelligence from multiple perspectives intends to bridge the gap between the humanities, the social sciences, and computing, Ito adds.The thread running through these otherwise-disparate phenomenon, is a shift of reasoning and judgment away from people, says Jonathan Zittrain, cofounder of the Berkman Klein Center and a professor of law and computer science at Harvard.Sometimes thats good, as it can free us up for other pursuits and for deeper undertakings, he adds. And sometimes its profoundly worrisome, as it decouples big decisions from human understanding and accountability. A lot of our work in this area will be to identify and cultivate technologies and practices that promote human autonomy and dignity rather than diminish it.Specifically, the initiative intends to carry out the following items and to help answer the questions that arise from themCommunicate complexity How do we best communicate, through words and processes, the nuances of a complex field like AI?Ethical design How do we build and design technologies that consider ethical frameworks and stimmungslage values as central features of technological innovation?Advance accountable and fair AI What kinds of controls do we need to minimize AIs potential harm to society and maximize its benefits?Innovation in the public interest How do we maintain the ability of engineers and entrepreneurs to innovate, create and profit, while ensuring that society is informed and that the work integrates public interest perspectives?Expand the conversation How do we grow the field to ensure that a range of constituencies are involved with building the tools and analyzing social impact?The two institutes have experience crossing disciplines. The Media Lab developed the Moral Machine platform, which has collected 2.5 million responses fr om people about whether they think autonomous vehicles should choose to save passengers or pedestrians in a crisis situation. The Harvard center has been an incubation center for the Creative Commons and Digital Public Library of America.The Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Fund will be housed at The Miami Foundation in Miami.Jean Thilmany and independent writer. For Further Discussion Even when we dont know it, artificial intelligence affects virtually every aspect of our modern lives. Technology and commerce will ensure it will impact every society on earth. Albert Ibargen, CEO, Knight Foundation