In any business career there will be lots of decisions: good, bad and ugly. Kathy Caprino, writing for Forbes, asserts that good decisions have noticeable traits in common. And the reverse is also true.

I’ve seen careers stalled and sometimes ended by someone’s inability to make a clean apology. Here is some great advice about apologies from Connie Dieken, writing for The Huffington Post.  “An effective apology can influence others, mitigate damage and maybe even bolster your credibility in the long run,” she writes.

Lot of us grew up believing that if you just do good work, the work will speak for itself. That’s one of those beliefs that is true only if your supervisors are paying attention. When there is a lot going on, management probably won’t notice good work unless you speak for it. The further up you go in any organization, the work stops speaking for itself. You have to speak for the work.  So, what’s an effective approach to speaking for the work?, asks executive coach and author Scott Eblin.  He offers five road-tested steps that most senior execs appreciate:

This is a practical article about survival.  It’s about what to do if you are in a job you actively dislike — perhaps hate — but for whatever reason, you can’t quit and walk away.  There are bills to pay and no new job beckoning.  So you’re stuck.

Looking for a new job is not much fun and is seldom easy.  But attitude matters a lot, and it’s important to keep your spirits up.  Priscilla Claman, writing for the Harvard Business Review, says it’s important to manage your feelings. “Becoming negative, cynical, or depressed will work against you. When you get angry with yourself, it shows, she says. “Don't believe you can easily fake energy and enthusiasm. Most interviewers will pick up your real feelings.”

You might learn a great deal in school, but it’s doubtful you’ll actually develop as a leader by reading a book or taking a course. The military maintains that leadership development comes through experience, and Alice Korngold, writing for Fastcompany.com, tends to agree. “People grow and become leaders by making a commitment to a cause, and having personal responsibility and accountability.”

You may love your new job, but there are inevitable conflicts — with co-workers, with supervisors, with customers — that can affect how you feel during the workdays.  You have the power to resolve these conflicts.  A book by Vivian Scott, “Conflict Resolution at Work,” part of the” Dummies” series, offers some very smart tips.

Interviewing for a new job is an exercise in humiliation and uncertainty.  Whether you’re interviewing for a job at a new company or just changing roles at your present employer, the process is difficult.

You do everything you can to look your best, act your best and be the best you can be. You meet with several people who act like they’d love to have you as a co-worker.  At the end of the process, you’re super excited to get that offer. Then the call comes:

Rejected.

You hear the "reason" you didn’t get the job (e.g., "You were a perfect fit but we had a hard choice between two great candidates." "You’re overqualified for the job.")

Do you want to know real reason you didn’t get it?  Here are some possibilities, from an article by Mike Figliuolo of thought Leaders LLC: