By John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

People who apologize more earn higher salaries. That is the finding of a study done by Zogby International.

Zogby was asked by their client, The Pearl Outlet, to find out more about customers who were buying pearls as a way of apologizing. Apparently, customers were buying pearls for spouses, lovers, or significant others as a way to say “I’m sorry.”

Zogby polled nearly 8,000 men and women in the united States and what they discovered was staggering — people who sincerely apologize make more money.

Apology Numbers…

Individuals who make over $100,000 per year are almost two times as likely to say “I’m sorry” following a mistake or a disagreement than those who make $25,000 or less.

92% of those who earn more than $100,000 apologize when they feel they are at fault.

89% of individual who make between $100,000 and $75,000 are more likely to apologize after a mistake or argument

84% of those who earn between $75,000 and $50,000 report a willingness to apologize.

74% of those who make between $50,000 and $25,000 apologize readily

And only 52% of those who make less than $25,000 are open to apologizing regularly. 

It’s a near perfect predictor of how much money people make. This is a rarity - a strong relationship between income and human behavior.

So what does it mean?

The willingness to apologize is an indication of emotional intelligence, interpersonal skills, which we know to be associated with leadership and executive performance.

What’s more, the relationship between asking for forgiveness and income indicates that highly successful individuals are open to making mistakes and learning from those mistakes. Successful people are willing to break some eggs to make an omelet.

The extension of this is that successful people are more likely to ask for forgiveness than for permission. They are willing to take calculated risks which have a high probability of paying off in the future.

The other possible interpretation is that successful individuals are more comfortable in who they are, more self-assured, and thus, are less likely to get defensive when things go badly. They are strong enough to take the blame when they are wrong while realizing that they will persevere despite adverse circumstances.

If you want to read more about learning how to apologize and forgive, visit the articles section at [1] www.GuideToSelf.com.

Latest news! There is a new Guide To Self Video Blog on free anger management classes by John at [2] http://drjohnsblog.wordpress.com. Sign up for details and emails at the home page [3] http://www.GuideToSelf.com.

About John Schinnerer Ph.D.

John Schinnerer is in private practice helping people learn anger management, stress management and the latest ways to deal with destructive negative emotions. He also helps clients discover optimal human functioning via positive psychology. His offices are in Danville, California. He graduated from U.C. Berkeley with a Ph.D. in psychology. John has been an executive, speaker and psychologist for over 10 years. He is President and Founder of [4] Guide To Self, a company that coaches executives to happiness and success using the latest in positive psychology. Dr. John Schinnerer hosted over 200 episodes of Guide To Self Radio, a daily prime time radio show, in the SF Bay Area.  His areas of expertise range from positive psychology, to emotional awareness, to anger management, to executive coaching. He wrote the award-winning, “[5] Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide To Managing Emotion and Thought,” which is available at Amazon.com. His blog, [6] Shrunken Mind, was recently recognized as one of the top 3 in positive psychology on the web ([7] http://drjohnblog.guidetoself.com).