I spent nearly 10 years of my professional life apologizing. 

 “I’m sorry your flight was delayed.”

“I’m sorry your bag did not arrive as scheduled.”

“I’m sorry that your flight attendant wasn’t as helpful as he could have been.”

Then there are some of the more memorable apologies:

“I’m sorry you got off of your flight in the wrong city and lost $500 gambling in Las Vegas while you were waiting for the next flight to L.A.”

“I’m sorry that the Oreos we served on your afternoon flight got in your teeth and made it awkward for you to chat with the person sitting next to you.”

 “I’m sorry you spilled red wine on your white Ralph Lauren suit and then dropped your glasses in the toilet while you were trying to clean yourself off with a maxi pad and a can of club soda.”

Southwest Airlines is one company that is not afraid to say “I’m sorry.”  A recent article in the Dallas Morning News highlighted the airline’s efforts to proactively apologize when things go wrong, before the customer even has a chance to file a complaint.  An entire team of people at the airline monitor daily operations to identify irregularities.  When something goes wrong, they craft an apology and a researched explanation, and send it to the customer within 24 hours of the occurrence.  

It was, in fact, my two years of training in the Southwest Airlines Customer Relations Department a decade ago that made my transition to social media so natural.  The experience armed me with the knowledge, language and tools to communicate with customers on a personal level and truly address their concerns, which, without fail, almost always begins with an apology. 

Working with other organizations now, I’m baffled by how many simply refuse to say the “s-word.”  Legal teams are quick to redline blog posts, tweets, and comments, changing the words “I’m sorry” to “we regret,” sterilizing messages, and essentially taking the “social” out of “social media.” 

A lawyer at a recent cocktail party, however, assured me that not only is an apology not going to be a deciding factor in a court of law, studies show that an apology is 85 percent more likely to keep you out of court in the first place.

You’ll have to slap a Tom Scott “Journalism Warning Sticker” on that statistic, since I don’t know the source, but Southwest Airlines’ willingness to say “I’m sorry” combined with its consistently high customer service ratings and profitability suggests there may be something to it. 

If your legal team is hindering your social media success, and you would like to continue this conversation at SXSW next March, visit the SXSW Panel Picker and vote for The Legal Ramifications of Saying “I’m Sorry,” in which a panel of career apologists and apologetic lawyers will discuss and debate the real risks of saying “I’m sorry,” how companies like Southwest Airlines get away with it every day, and how to craft an air-tight apology.

For tips on other interesting SXSW panels in the running, see my top 100 reasons to attend SXSW 2011.

The strange story of Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd’s abrupt departure last week keeps getting stranger.

When BP’s Tony Hayward walked the plank following his tone-deaf media comments and yachting vacation, almost everyone agreed he had to go.  But no such unanimity greeted the resignation of Hurd, concluding what The New York Times DealBook blog called “one of the great executive runs in recent American business history.” 

 “Mark Hurd Got Off Easy,” says business blogger and former Fortune Senior Editor Marc Gunther.  Henry Blodget at Business Insider, himself no stranger to controversy, wrote a column headlined “Wait a Minute — Why Does Mark Hurd Get $50 Million Severance When He Lied in His Expense Reports?”  Perhaps the unkindest cut of all comes from Gizmodo, which asks “Wait – Who the Hell is Mark Hurd?”

In Hurd’s corner: tennis buddy and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who called the HP board’s decision to seek Hurd’s resignation “the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago.”  Geoffrey James at BNET says HP’s board “smelled a PR disaster and dumped Hurd like a ticking time bomb.  What a bunch of sissies.”  In the Los Angeles Times, columnist Michael Hiltzik says it looks like the HP board “panicked over appearances, rather than making a mature effort to weigh the facts at hand.”

In a Dow Jones column he considered titling “Hurd on the Street,” the inimitable Al Lewis, formerly of the Denver Post, says HP shareholders “deserve to know more details, given the obscene price tag on this unconsummated affair.”  On top of Hurd’s severance, the news of his departure cost HP shareholders about $9 billion in market-cap.

Here’s my bottom line:

Hurd erred by creating or allowing a situation in which his judgment and integrity could be questioned.  Appearances matter, especially for the CEO of a company with government contracts valued in the billions.  Corporate governance expert Nell Minow rightly reminds us that government customers, in the U.S. and abroad, have zero tolerance for ethical lapses.

HP’s board erred by failing to disclose more about what happened, thus cloaking the basis for their decision.  By withholding details about the findings of the company’s investigation, the board created the impression they panicked and pushed Hurd out, clearing the way for speculation about their actions and motives, and Hurd’s.  Whose privacy are they protecting?   

Al’s right: HP shareholders deserve better.

The role of outside PR advisors is an interesting part of the story.  It’s been widely reported that APCO Worldwide advised the HP board to sack Hurd, or else face an ongoing controversy fanned by Gloria Allred, attorney for ex-actress and HP contractor Jodie Fisher, who accused Hurd of sexual harassment and later reached a private settlement with him.  While canning Hurd to avoid embarrassing revelations may have seemed like a good idea at the time, the board’s decision has put HP “back into the middle of public crossfire,” says the San Jose Mercury News.

Since there are two sides to every story, Team Hurd hired crisis specialists Sitrick & Co., whose fingerprints are evident on some of the pro-Hurd, anti-board coverage over the past few days.  The Wall Street Journal reports the board was “surprised Hurd didn’t go quietly,” suggesting a surprising level of cluelessness about what people will do when their reputations are at stake.

It’s encouraging that PR counsel was sought by the HP board before making such a momentous decision – talk about having a seat at the table.  It’s also sobering to realize how much clients have at stake when they take our advice – in this case, a $9 billion decision. 

I hope as they considered their options, the HP board cared as much about integrity as about image.  Otherwise, they may have done the right thing, at least in part, for the wrong reason.

We’re celebrating Employee Appreciation Week at Linhart PR, along with many other companies in Denver. Employee Appreciation Week is presented by the Downtown Denver Partnership, with events including Denver’s Largest Coffee Break, a corporate ping pong tournament, concerts, outdoor movies in Skyline Park and happy hours on the 16th Street Mall.

At LPR, we’ll celebrate throughout the week, with help from our own internal culture club, Pizzazz, led by Kelly Janhunen and Jenn Tilliss. This morning we enjoyed a waffle breakfast from Waffle Brothers in our Café. Tomorrow, we’ll toast our team at the annual LPR Summer Soiree at the lovely home of Sharon and Jerry Linhart.

Each day, a member of our leadership team will write a note to our staff expressing our respect for and gratitude toward the team that has helped us earn recognition as one of the best PR firms of our size in the nation. My message today shared borrowed wisdom on building a sustainable culture, from a company with a 113-year track record of success. I’ve included it below.

“Our Commitment to Each Other”

Last week, business and sustainability blogger and former Fortune Senior Editor Marc Gunther wrote about The J.M. Smucker Co. If you think Smucker is a cute little company making jams and jellies, think again: Smucker is a $4.6 billion powerhouse behind brands including Jif, Crisco, Folger’s and Pillsbury.

Marc profiled Smucker in the current issue of Fortune not because they’ve installed solar panels on their jelly plants or found dramatic ways to reduce their carbon footprint, but because they demonstrate sustainability in a different way: the company has survived and thrived for 113 years, a durable track record he attributes in part to the company’s culture.

Since we care a lot about culture here at Linhart PR, and since we’re celebrating Employee Appreciation Week, this seems like a good time to share a message provided to every new Smucker employee on their first day of work. This was written in the early 1980s by then-CEO Paul Smucker, grandson of the founder. It’s called “Our Commitment to Each Other.”

As Smucker’s experiences growth in the 80′s, we need to insure that we retain one of Smucker’s most cherished goals — the mutual respect of our fellow employees and an atmosphere that makes people proud to work here. This same commitment can be enlarged to include our customers, suppliers, and shareholders.

Here are a few basic thoughts, when put into our everyday lives, that can help:

Thank you for a job well done — This small recognition shows that we notice and appreciate the efforts of our fellow employees.

Listening with your full attention — By giving our undivided attention, we are showing that there is nothing more important at that moment than what is being said.

Looking for the good in others — By seeing the good in others, we are demonstrating our respect and confidence in their intentions to do what is right, and we are developing an atmosphere where we can grow and learn.

Sense of humor — Our work efforts are important; that is how we set the example and take the lead. Our sense of humor is also important, for that is how we maintain our perspective to our work. Humor, not at the expense of others, but as a brief relief from difficult tasks, can make our working atmosphere more pleasant and enjoyable.

By keeping these few thoughts in our minds every day, we can build a bridge of understanding that will nourish the atmosphere in which we work and our mutual respect for each other. I ask for your commitment to these thoughts; I ask for your commitment to each other.

As we recognize Employee Appreciation Week this week, our first order of business should be appreciating and celebrating each other, the teamwork we display day after day, and all of the different capabilities, qualities and personalities that come together to comprise our wonderful team. As Paul Smucker would (and did) say, thank you for a job well done.