Not Only Luck.
An essay by John Melonakos

Accountability

One distinctive quality of successful startup founders is their unwavering assumption of accountability. They cannot play the victim. The buck stops with them. Either they acknowledge reality, own it, and find solutions, or their startups die.

Check out this whiteboard description of the Accountability Continuum:

Accountability Continuum

Playing the victim causes you to not make stuff happen. It also unleashes a pernicious virus in your organization that says it’s “OK” to victimize situations.

I remember one employee in particular whose nature it was to play the victim. We detected that tendency and called him out on it enough times in a row that he changed and became much better, even awesome.

What are your thoughts on accountability? How do you inspire accountability in your organization?

 

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