In business as in life, even a seemingly harmless remark can backfire. Think about it — how many times have you hit send and wished you could get that e-mail back? How many times have you regretted something you said that hurt someone or positioned you poorly in an important meeting? It happens to all of us including those in the public eye who can be embarrassed on a far bigger stage. It’s a reminder to all of us that we are responsible for what we say which is why it’s so important to keep the end result in mind.

The blunders are endless and spark different degrees of offensiveness. Learning how to better handle slip-ups and prevent future errors in judgment can actually help you turn negatives to positives.

For example, a television reporter I know aired a scathing report about broken security cameras at one of this country’s busiest airports. The report was loaded with inaccuracies, but did not threaten public safety. Instead of calling management and blasting the reporter as airport executives wanted to do, we took a different tack to try to help them change the end result. Airport communications professionals phoned the No. 1 local television station and offered them an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at airport security. The station jumped on the chance to have a private tour that resulted in a positive story watched by a much larger audience.

If executives had simply reacted and called to complain, they might have generated more negative publicity by creating an even bigger controversy. The lesson: think about the outcome you seek and program your internal GPS to take you there before you shift into gear.

That leads to a story that didn’t have such a happy ending, when a leading expert in homeopathic medicine agreed to do an interview with John Stossel, co-host of ABC-TV’s “20/20.” The title of the segment: “Gimme a Break” should have been his first clue. Refusing media coaching, the spokesperson decided he was fully capable of debunking myths and handling any tough questions that might come his way. And they came. When Stossel stated that perhaps homeopathic medicine was for “suckers,” the spokesperson said, “you can choose to call us suckers, but we have experience that suggests otherwise.” Not only did he inadvertently validate what Stossel suggested by repeating negatives, but also, those words became his words—devoid of message.

As you can imagine, the spokesperson was outraged at the edited television program, which he felt misrepresented a scientific study of homeopathy in its visual portrayal of how homeopathy works. In a memo to colleagues, he labeled it a “story of science fiction” and “reality television” to “discredit homeopathic medicine.” He wanted to demand a retraction from ABC and to send letters to the editors of numerous national publications denouncing the broadcast. We advised against it explaining it’s important to realize what was upsetting to him is not as big a deal to those who saw the piece. But when someone then writes emotionally charged letters with titles like “junk science,” the spokesperson was keeping the negative alive instead of looking for ways to educate people, share the positives of homeopathy and position the industry in a credible light.

“Until you start focusing on what you can control,” we told the spokesperson, “you will never further your own agenda.”

Clearly, we’ve all made mistakes and have said things that unintentionally offended others without stopping to think about why the words we use or context we use them in is inappropriate. For example, people sometimes use words like “gay” or “retarded” in contexts that have no relevance to homosexuals or challenged individuals without realizing how hurtful and offensive these words are to others or how what’s acceptable and non-acceptable changes according to the times.

We all need to think before we speak to prevent blunders that can have long-lasting results. As former White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater once said: “You don’t have to explain what you don’t say.”

Karen Friedman is a professional communication coach, speaker and chief improvement officer at Karen Friedman Enterprises (www.karenfriedman.com). This article is based on her new best-selling book, “Shut Up and Say Something: Business Communication Strategies to Overcome Challenges and Influence Listeners.”