Why Accountability Matters
Published by Bob Prosen September 27th, 2006 in Why Accountability?.Yesterday, Andrew Fastow received six years for his part in the Enron debaucle.
In this day and age, integrity and accountability are two of the most important things you can do to keep your company on a journey toward excellence. There are no gray areas, it’s black and white and if you put the right people and culture in place, it can be very rewarding long term for your bottom line.
Unfortunately, some business leaders look for the quickest road to success, regardless of the consequences. The business pages of newspapers and magazines are filled with news about seemingly successful companies and executives who basked in the glory of the cover stories and feature articles, only to come crashing back to earth as their dishonest, corrupt, and greedy business practices came to light.
Companies are created for one purpose: to achieve a mission. To do this requires consistent delivery of results against goals. Results are best achieved when organizations have strong leaders who know how to balance vision and results, create an accountability-based culture, hire the right people, operate with unquestionable integrity, and have the courage to lead.
Success without accountability and integrity is not an option.
As the article behind the link describes, this was a lenient sentence, considering the “huge collapse wiped out thousands of jobs, more than $60 billion in market value and more than $2 billion in pension plans.”
The end of the article also describes that his wife was convicted of previous tax fraud and sent to jail for her assistance in hiding ill-gotten gains from his tax schemes.
So it appears they were cut from a cloth that thought they could do no wrong…
You say “Success without accountability and integrity is not an option”. I would argue that it is not success at all. At least not lasting success.
On a scale closer to most of our daily lives, people follow leaders because they trust them. Trust comes out of performance and follow up, doing what it is that you say you will do. Sticking to your word. And being accountable when things go wrong. Admitting your mistakes.
Accountability matters because it makes people trust you when you are accountable for your actions. And they will not really follow you as a leader unless they trust you.
Steve- Thanks for your thoughts. I just returned to the USA and after reading your post, I must say I agree. In fact, trust is so important I directly address it in Kiss Theory Good Bye. One of the best ways to build trust is by making and meeting commitments. The reason I like this approach is because it’s quantifiable. People know when we do and when we don’t. Integrity, accountability and trust are essential when it comes to any type of successful business or personal relationship. Here’s to your continued success!