Accountable Leaders

Introduction

Why do so many of us have such negative experiences with leadership? Why do our organizations have so many mediocre leaders? Why do so many of us work on terrible teams? why do we spend our careers in organizations with uninspiring and even dreadful cultures? More importantly, why do we put up with all of this?

You deserve better. We all deserve better. However, changing things means that you will need to be a better and more accountable leader. We will all need to be better and more accountable leaders. Why? Just look at the daily headlines or the newsfeeds on your smartphone. What do you see? Far too many stories of prominent leaders embroiled in scandal, corruption, sexual harassment, demonstrating unacceptable and even unethical behavior. Whether they are corporate CEOs, politicians, or other prominent figures, there are many disgraceful examples of leadership. These stories happen so often that we don’t even notice anymore. We have become conditioned to accept this as the norm. Well, it’s not—and we need to hold all leaders to a higher standard of behavior. You need to hold yourself to a higher standard of behavior.

Our experience with teams isn’t much better. Research shows that only three in 10 employees believe that their co-workers are committed to doing quality work.¹ Most employees do the bare minimum to get by. We need to improve the quality and accountability of teams.

While business leaders talk about the importance of corporate culture, the sad ...