On forgiveness

Last month's Fast Company article on Gap's Social Responsibility efforts was pretty interesting. The company has decided to go "fully transparent," keeping investors and anyone interested in the loop on working conditions in their overseas factories. The results of their first report, released earlier this year, weren't good - some factories were reported to have engaged in physical and psychological abuse.

This isn't surprising to many people, in a world where corporate distrust is at an all-time high. But what's cool is that the company decided to publish these results themselves, in an honest and open way. More importantly, by committing to publishing these reports on a regular basis, the company implicitly has charged itself with the responsibility of making serious changes.

What's most interesting to me is how forgiving people can be. You can tell people about some pretty horrible things you've done, and people will praise you for being honest. People will give you the benefit of the doubt, offer you second and third and fourth chances - all you have to do is say, "I screwed up."

I wonder why more companies haven't realized this.