Apologize to younger people when you’re wrong. It teaches them adults can be honest too.

Apologising downward is rare because it costs status and no rule forces it. That is exactly what makes it land. A younger person who hears someone older admit a mistake learns something no lecture delivers: that being honest is survivable, and that having authority is not the same as being right. They will carry the demonstration much longer than they carry the incident.

If you were short with a younger sibling or a newer teammate this week, go back and say so directly. No explanation about how tired you were. Just the plain version, and then let it be over.