Hi, Page  - enjoyed this post immensely, along with feeling a little squirmy as your points hit way too close to home.

Your very first point about accepting responsibility is especially interesting, since we see so many examples of how not to do it in the public arena.   Not quite sure why it is so difficult for so many to simply say "I was wrong", but the excuses and explanations tend to come easily for some.  When a particular excuse is successful, we can almost be certain that we will hear variations on that excuse in the future.

One thing that particularly gets my attention is when someone claims to have been misunderstood and attempts to "rephrase" the words that came out their mouth:).

I have no particular comeback story to share, although I HAVE spent plenty of time recovering from various slips, trips, and falls in my career.   I would note that as long as our society accepts non-apologies, vague statements, "extenuating" circumstances, and doublespeak, instead of demanding clear and honest language in general, we will continue to see examples of people in leadership not taking a leader role and accepting responsibility clearly and concisely.

Thanks for yet another thought-provoking post:)

John