About Purpose is about your purpose.
Aim: Identify and articulate your purpose.
Arm: Shape yourself around your purpose.
Act: Achieve your purpose.
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Caught! Red-Handed
©2003, Bob Ryan
The Highway Patrol car pulled up in the lane next to me. I had no fears; I always go the speed limit. As she dropped back a bit, I used the opportunity to pull in front of her and get into the right lane to take the next ramp.
Still going the speed limit I entered the freeway. Imagine my surprise when her lights began flashing. She pulled me over! As she sat behind me running my plates to be sure I wasn’t the Boston Strangler or someone, my wife and I recounted the last few minutes, sure that I had done nothing wrong. Finally, she came up to the car and told me my tabs had expired – seven months ago!
My first instinct was denial. It couldn’t be. We always pay as soon as we get the notice. With her looking on, we searched through the checkbook. No record of payment. We swore that the notice could never have made it into our mailbox or we would have paid it. The state had messed up. As she handed me the $100 ticket, she politely reminded me that it is my responsibility to have current tabs – notice or no notice.
“My Bad” – After we pulled away, we spent the next 20 minutes going over how it possibly could have happened. We were sure that the state never sent us that notice. I began dreading parting with the $100 fine (not to mention the $65 for the new tabs). I wrestled with the idea of challenging the ticket. I rehearsed the rationale in my mind. But her words kept coming back to me, “You are responsible to have current tabs.” Finally, I accepted the inevitable. My responsibility. My bad. My hundred dollars. Ouch.
Personal responsibility seems to be a scarce commodity these days. One of my areas of consulting practice is around ethics and corporate and personal responsibility. Yet even I went through a process of trying to rationalize my way out of my personal responsibility. Did the state forget to send it? Did the mailman lose it? Did my wife accidentally toss it in the trash? It doesn’t matter.
The responsibility is still mine.
Well, for us consultants, everything becomes a “teachable moment.” And there are some important lessons in this annoying little episode for all of us. One lesson is proactive (before the fact) and the other reactive.
Proactive
Whether in business or in your personal life, make sure you know what your responsibilities are. List them. Plan for them. There is no excuse for lack of accountability. There may be reasons, but not excuses.
The Sarbanes-Oaxley Act makes CEOs of publicly traded companies personally responsible for the accuracy of their firms’ financial results. This is a reactive measure instituted because corporate heads were not proactive in monitoring their corporate actions and reports. Just last week, the paper was filled news about shady trades in mutual funds. What do you think will be the result? I’m betting on more regulation.
Being proactive means that you act before people or circumstances force you to react. Build monitoring systems so that you know what’s going on in your company or your personal life. Put responsibilities on your calendar. Make sure every detail is covered in someone’s job description or home duties. Then make sure you monitor their performance.
In small business, the examples of personal responsibility are smaller, but the consequences of failed responsibility can be much more critical. We simply don’t have the margin to deal with the consequences. I double up on making sure I make my monthly tax deposits. I put them on my calendar for the 15th of every month and I have an accountant whose office calls me early in the week of the 15th. I can’t afford even the small fines and interest that failed deposits can bring.
Create a forum in which you and those with whom you work can explore what your future responsibilities may be. Challenge yourself to go beyond what you have to do and begin planning for what would be right to do. Build this into your strategic and operational planning. Use the lessons learned from the big corporations to proactively prepare yourself for what will undoubtedly trickle down.
Reactive
Be responsible for your actions - or in my license tabs example, lack of actions. If there’s one thing we are learning from the corporate debacles of late, it’s that no one likes a whiner. Stand up and take responsibility, as a leader should. Ethically and morally, taking responsibility is the high ground. If that’s not enough for you, maybe these practical reasons will sway you.
- Taking immediate responsibility moves you quickly past the negative consequences of the public spotlight.
- Taking immediate responsibility will very likely be cheaper in the long run.
- Taking immediate responsibility models the kind of behavior you expect from your employees.
- Taking immediate responsibility keeps you from wasting valuable rebuilding time on constructing excuses.
- Taking immediate responsibility eliminates shame and blame from your corporate culture.
Sure, I’m out a hundred bucks. But I can drive down the road knowing that I’m legal. And I have learned some valuable lessons. What about you? Will it take a ticket, or a lawsuit, or a jail sentence, or even a death before you consciously examine your personal and corporate responsibility? I hope not. Take action today.