The Accountability Blog

Tag: responsibility

Elected Officials Opt-Out of Leadership

According to a recent CNN article, some of the 97 Republicans who are not sharing their vaccine status told CNN that they don’t have the responsibility to model behavior for their constituents. It is the responsibility of the accountable leader to model the culture, values, and behavior that they are encouraging inside their area of leadership. So, by definition, these senators have self-selected out of a leadership position. If they’re not going to lead then

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How Accountable Are You… Really?

“How accountable am I?” This is a question accountable leaders never stop asking themselves. Accountability never stops. Accountability is proactive. Accountability takes a conscious effort and continuous action over time. Accountability is keeping your commitments to people. The minute you stop asking yourself how well you are keeping those commitments, the minute you stop taking action to strengthen those relationships, Accountability fades. Often, I will hear leaders say something like this: “Sure, I’m accountable. I

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Transforming The Diversity Conversation … The Accountable Thing To Do

Most leaders miss a huge opportunity when they talk about diversity. In the wake of multiple high-profile news stories about diversity and inclusion, and any number of hastily-assembled “damage control” initiatives from companies at the center of those stories, I wonder if it’s time to reframe our national workplace conversation on diversity. Here’s a start: If you’re a leader, you are already accountable to each member of your team to fulfil your organization’s commitment to

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Accountable Leadership…Closing The Values Gap

I received a question recently from someone online, a question that gave me pause. He wanted my insights on how he could find the right employer in his chosen field, an organization driven by strong values. This is a very important issue, one that is all the more essential to consider closely because, as this man pointed out, most of the companies in his industry seemed to lack a coherent guiding set of values. Indeed,

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The Principle of Accountability™

Have you ever tried to “hold someone accountable”– and found that the person’s performance got worse instead of better? The Principle of Accountability makes holding someone accountable impossible. Lots of leaders have had this experience. Before we start talking about “holding people accountable,” a tactic that usually backfires, maybe we need to ask ourselves a more fundamental question: What does that word “accountability” really mean? Accountability, very simply, means keeping your commitments to people. Period.

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No Purpose, No Mission; Know Your Purpose, Know Your Mission!

What is your Purpose in life? What is your Mission? They are not the same. It is quite common for people (and teams and even entire organizations) to get a little confused about what a Purpose is and how it differs from a Mission. This confusion does not exist for accountable leaders and the team members who report to them. Truly accountable leaders know that their Purpose is the reason they are here, phrased in

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American Airlines’ Mission Failure: A Lesson in Corporate Culture

You may have seen the story a couple of years back about a group of 41 Oklahoma fifth-graders and their teachers, booked on a once-in-a-lifetime field trip to Washington, D.C., were unceremoniously abandoned in the terminal by the world’s largest air carrier, American Airlines. The kids had been planning their trip for over a year. American left the youngsters and the teachers stranded… by cancelling the June 2 flight from Oklahoma City to Virginia without

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What Accountability Looks Like in Action

Kaylah Rainey signs her letter of intent with Northwestern … and Northwestern becomes a national role model for accountability. The only time you become an effective leader is when you are accountable. And you only become accountable when you are committed. Commitment is at the very core of accountability and true leadership. If the leader is committed, then everyone will be committed! This is a very simple concept, yet you’d be surprised how many leaders

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It’s All of Us

Community service is not a punishment. Accountability is not a way of doing; it is a way of thinking. Accountability is keeping your commitments to people … and a commitment is No Matter What. I believe that when you start adopting this No Matter What mindset on a regular basis, you can not only transform your team … but you also can begin the process of changing the world and make it a better place.

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Google Assistant Responds to “Tell me something good” with Positive News

But actions still speak louder than words! We live in a hyper-connected, hyper-informed era. Thanks to today’s round-the-clock media cycles, mobile devices, and social media platforms, you and I can set up news feeds that allow us to take in more news per day than ever before. That’s a good thing…right? Well — yes and no. The trouble is, lots and lots of the news we end up exposing ourselves to is bad. If we’re

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