In my previous blog (4/20/09), I quoted Stephen Covey in describing the importance of a leader being fully transparent … openly acknowledging errors in judgment, mistakes made, and the need to change direction. In this blog, I would like to tighten the focus down to taking responsibility. And although there are many quotes that I could surface for this purpose … Peter Drucker probably says it most succinctly in stating that “Leadership is taking responsibility for results.”
We all make mistakes. But owning-up to our mistakes is not something easily done, since doing so may put one in a degree of jeopardy. This is when one’s self-protection mode fights to kick-in. And this is when a potential leader either rises above the water’s surface or slides beneath it. This is when a true leader displays a high degree of integrity and takes full responsibility for actions taken and the results of those actions … regardless of who on one’s team accomplished the deed.
This is a critical juncture for aspiring leaders … deciding whether to protect thyself and live another day or risk the loss of everything by proactively admitting responsibility for things gone wrong. These junctures are both humbling and character-building. And when the decision is made to be fully transparent, this is when significant steps are taken toward becoming a leader. This is when integrity rules, which indeed it should every day of the life of a leader. Drucker pointed to this as well in stating that “integrity is the touchstone of management.” Warren Bennis, in his 2003 revised edition of On Becoming A Leader, spoke to this further in saying that “One thing that has become clearer than ever to me is that integrity is the most important characteristic of a leader, and one that he or she must be prepared to demonstrate again and again.” I could not agree with him more.
But a leader’s job is not done once responsibility is embraced … this should be just the beginning of a leader’s response to missteps. And this brings up another quote, one by Polaroid founder Edwin Land, who stated that “A mistake is an event the full benefit of which you have not yet turned to your advantage.” A leader will guide those around him/her to embrace errors as opportunities. A leader finds the positive side of a negative occurrence. A leader helps those he/she leads to learn from their mistakes and to use those mistakes to define a better path forward.
And in the process of taking responsibility and empowering others to find that better path forward leaders grow the people around them, perhaps no more importantly than by setting the integrity example.
Author Cross-references:
Warren G. Bennis: Also see posts 1/14/09, 2/6/09, 8/17/09, 11/11/09, 12/5/09, 2/18/10, 2/24/10
Peter Drucker: Also see post 1/29/10
Edwin Land: Also see post 1/6/10
Key Word Cross-references:
Character/Integrity: Also see posts 2/3/09, 2/6/09, 3/16/09, 6/5/09, 8/17/09, 11/1/09, 12/5/09
Inclusive/Open/Honest/Transparent: Also see posts 12/12/08, 4/20/09, 7/7/09, 8/3/09, 10/26/09, 11/11/09, 1/29/10, 2/24/10, 5/26/10
Setting the Example: Also see posts 12/12/08, 1/13/09, 3/16/09, 5/17/09, 6/5/09, 7/7/09, 8/17/09, 2/24/10
Tags: Leadership
on Leadership ... by Steven Davis, CAE 
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