You can’t really shake a first impression. It’s done. When we screw it up, we have to live with that.

But I’ll share a secret: You can make a second impression.

I received a call recently from someone I’d talked to a few months ago about a possible project. She had read my blog post on The Importance of Saying “No” and saw herself in there. And so she called to say “I’m sorry.”

It takes guts to apologize. More important, it takes a lot of class.

In my earlier post, I wrote:

Most of us have mental lists of people who have gone out of their way to be helpful–or not. To answer or return phone calls–or not. To give an honest answer to an honest question–or not.

Guess which list she’s on now?

Photo by David Spender (Flickr).