The Oil Spill and the Blame Game

Although we are in the early stages of the fallout from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, we have entered the intersection of three possible pathways:

Option #1 BLAME

This is where non-human factors outside of the control of those doing the job are blamed. It could be equipment, weather, a lack of imagination, or something else.

Option #2 ACCOUNTABILITY

This is the moment when someone says, “It happened on my watch, so therefore I am the one accountable.” However, viewing accountability as only a noun is not enough. Ultimately, it will be rightly held as mere rhetoric, obfuscation, and little else…

Option # 3 RESPONSIBILITY

After someone assumes accountability (“It happened on my watch”) they are now front and center in solving the problem and making sure it doesn’t happen again. This means more than words. It is about action!

For those of us who lead others, it’s what we do that counts. Not what we don’t do.

Claiming the mantra of accountability means the responsibility to act. And act well!

Accountability and responsibility are like the wings of the airplane. One without the other is worthless.

As John Maxwell observes, “The greatest separator in our world is action. There are those that do and those that don’t.”