Personal Responsibility – Where are our leaders? Posted by Gary Williams Posted on Sep - 10 - 2012 In today’s civilian society, it seems that everyone is a victim. It is rare to find people who accept responsiblity not only for their own failures, but also those they lead or supervise. In short, there is an alarming lack of personal responsibility. Too many elected officials, as well as those in similar position of leadership, blame others for their own decision-making, or lack thereof, but are quick to take credit for the success of their subordinates. In April of 1961, President John F. Kennedy accepted full responsibility for the Bay of Pigs fiasco. It did not matter that the plans for the operations had started in the Eisenhower administration, or that intelligence failures led directly to the major foreign policy failures just three months into his term. President Kennedy, a former Navy officer, stood before the nation and the entire world and accepted personal responsibility. A military officer or anyone aspiring to a position of leadership must be willing to accept responsibility for his or her own failure or that of his or her team. A fundamental tenet of leadership is that regardless of their actions, leaders are responsible for those under their command. As a leader, you may be able to delegate duties and even authority; but as a leader, the one thing you cannot delegate is your responsibility, tasks and duties. As the leader, overall responsibility always remains with you. It is when things go wrong that great leaders are identified. Great leaders will readily accept, without hesitation, full and unequivocal responsibility for their decisions, even when the results stem from the actions or inaction of subordinates. Anyone unwilling to do so is not worthy of positions of leadership or command. In addition, he created the U.S. Navy SEALs 1962 as a small, elite maritime military force to conduct Unconventional Warfare and led the space exploration program.
Posted on: Sun, 29 Sep 2013 03:36:07 +0000
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