3 Philosophies of a Great Company

On By Joe DeRosaIn BusinessLeave a comment

Greatness-vs.-Mediocrity

You work for a great company, right?  You know what your customers want.  Your product, your service, your company has got it.  You’re the best out there and you know it.  You’ve built things from the ground up or possibly revamped an existing infrastructure to improve your sales effectiveness and efficiency.  You installed a sales CRM tool, you’re looking at a marketing automation system, and you just bought a prospect list that will help you focus on where to fish.  You’re ready.  You’re set…and off you go!

But wait.  You’ve spent months focused only on the internal aspects of your company.  You’ve developed plans based upon a certain set of assumptions, all of which, are best guesses based upon what you know.  But herein lies the problem, it’s not what you know that presents the risk of failure…it’s what you don’t know.  And  right now you’re missing the biggest piece of your success equation – what does the customer want and how do they want it?

Most companies still operate from an inside-out viewpoint.  What do we sell?  Why are we the best?  What makes us different?  Why is our product or process better?  This is why we’re special.  This is why you’ll love our solution.  And on, and on it goes.

So what separates average companies from star performers?  While there are many things that go into creating a great company I’d offer the following three philosophies as perhaps the most critical:

  1. Outside-in view.   Placing the buyers needs first is crucial to a company’s growth and success.  This requires dedicating time and resources to studying and understanding your prospective buyer.   Sirius Decisions, an expert in the integration of sales and marketing, developed a proven process that companies can use to identify and define their various buyer personas.  These personas provide deep insight into the buyer, who they are, how they operate, where they go to gather information, and their preferred methods of absorbing information.  Without this deep understanding of your prospective buyer, your sales and marketing efforts will continue to produce disappointing results.
  2. Thirst for knowledge.  Great companies are also learning companies.  They apply different techniques to deepen their awareness and familiarity of the marketplace.  Leadership gurus like Noel Tichy have introduced various methods for gaining and using this knowledge, inside of large organizations, that can also be applied to small businesses.  Tichy’s Virtuous Teaching Cycle, introduced in his book The Leadership Cycle, provides clear steps for how to gather, assimilate, and cascade knowledge throughout an organization.  Companies that commit to this quest for knowledge are better prepared to take the lead when the opportunity arises.
  3. Commitment to talent.  It’s no wonder that the companies on the list of Fortune’s Great Places to Work have some of the strongest performance results around.  For years, we have read the studies and seen the data that prove a direct correlation between employee satisfaction and high performance.  Today, we see companies like HubSpot, Zappos, and Square2Marketing providing benefits to employees ranging from “unlimited vacation time” to “pet friendly work places”.  Companies are beginning to see the benefits of providing more control and accountability to their employees.  Brian Halligan, HubSpot’s CEO said, “we hire very smart people who focus on the growth of our company and we expect them to use common sense”, and they have done just that since this HubSpot’s unlimited vacation policy was introduced in January 2010.

The Roadmap To Becoming A Deep Thinker

On By Joe DeRosaIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Thinking

What’s your point of view?  How do you think Obamacare will affect the country and our economy?  What are the implications of the United States interactions overseas?  How do you feel about the solvency of Social Security?  These topics and many others are front and center in our daily lives.  They have overreaching effects on us as individuals, employees, families, and communities.  And so…what do you think?

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone who didn’t have an opinion?  Or worse, who expressed an opinion they were unable to support or back-up?  Our culture of soundbites has left many people believing they know enough to have an opinion, but not really.  Little snippets provided to us by the “media”.  Data points that no one validates, or perhaps pieces of information spun in a way that slant the viewpoint of a story.  An example of this can be found in the monthly national employment numbers.

Each month between the ADP National Employment Report and the official government data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) the country is provided with a number for the unemployment rate.  August’s number from the BLS was 7.3%.  While this number has dropped over the past 12 months it does not by any means indicate a strong and robust economic recovery.  Only by diving deep into the data can one gather the facts to form their own opinion, and one they can support and defend.  By understanding the rocketing increase in the number of part-time jobs being worked, and the concept behind the term “marginally attached” you may form a different opinion on the health of our economy.

So how do you keep up with these highly sensitive and emotionally charged topics?  How can you maintain a valid point of view and one you can support and defend?  How can you begin to position yourself as a deep thinker…a thought leader?  Follow these 3 steps to get started:

  1. Read.  As the old saying goes, knowledge is power.  Educating yourself on a broad set of world events will add value to your conversations.  Your ability to draw correlations between current events and how they may impact you, your family, community and company will position you as a sought-after thought leader.
  2. Network.  Surrounding yourself with only those people who think like you is a dangerous strategy.  Doing this creates tunnel vision and leads to shallow or narrow perspectives.  Build a close network of friends or colleagues that share different viewpoints.  The key here is to first establish trust and respect.  If these two elements are present then it becomes much easier to move to the third step…
  3. Debate.  Now turn to your small group of trusted associates and test your opinions.  Go back and forth sharing your thoughts and perspectives on a given topic.  Provide your data points, make your case.  Have them do the same.  You’ll find that in the end, while your blood pressure may have risen during the debate (which is completely natural if done right), you will walk away a more enlightened and deeper thinker.

Follow this road map and in no time you’ll find yourself engaged in highly charged, challenging, and educational conversations.  You will have your knowledge tested and expanded, ultimately leading you to become a deep, and thoughtful thinker.

7 HighValue Benefits of a Product Lifecycle Management Process

On By Joe DeRosaIn MarketingLeave a comment

PD

Every product has its day. A well-designed product that has the right balance between price and value is every company’s goal. Taking that product and constructing a launch strategy that places it in the market at the right time and place is another required element of success. But even the best products, including those we consider staples, have a lifespan…a shelf life…before they need to be retired or overhauled. Just think of how toothpaste, toilet paper, and soap have evolved. Companies that have a strong Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) process in place tend to be the long-term winners over, and over again.

Where did PLM come from and what is it? In 1985, American Motors Company (AMC) was looking for ways to develop and produce highly desired products and get them to market faster than its competitors.  This strategy lead to the creation of the Product Lifecycle Management process. The purpose of PLM is to manage all aspects of a product from design concept to retirement, often referred to as “sunsetting”. PLM requires dedicated resources, an owner of the entire process, access to data, research, and all functional organizations within the operation. Companies that do a good job of PLM are typically leading innovators in their respective industries. Can you operate without a formal PLM process in place? That depends on what you’re hoping to accomplish…survival, growth, or perhaps winding down the business.

The PLM team plays a significant role in a company’s success.  It is charged with product development, designs, documentation, and data collection. It is also responsible for managing cost-of-production models, workflows, cross-organizational influencing and role assignment. The team establishes launch plans, in addition to reporting metrics to track and monitor each product’s performance in the market…and this is by no means an exhaustive list.

As you can see an effective PLM team requires different talents, skills, and capabilities. The team must have access to every area of the company’s operations – they must be embedded. A typical product-to-manager ratio is no more than two to one. Meaning, depending on scope of product a product manager should never manage more than two products at a time. This requires a significant resource commitment from the company. Placing one person in a position to manage all products is a recipe for failure. Not only is it ineffective for one person to manage multiple products, but it is impossible for that person to have an intimate view of the market, needs, trends, etc across various product lines.

Implementing a PLM process is not easy. It requires time, resources, commitment, and strong leadership. Many companies, especially those that are small in size, or family-run, struggle with understanding the value and importance of having a formal PLM process. To that end, I offer the following list of benefits to having an effective PLM process:

  1. Shortened product development time. May get you to market before the competition.
  2. Improves product acceptance in marketplace. Right features, functionality.
  3. Better quality products produced. Managing entire cycle end-to-end increases total quality.
  4. Greater resource utilization. Process allows organization to improve efficiency of resources.
  5. Reduces errors. All steps of PLM are documented, recorded, managed and communicated.
  6. Provides clear line of sight across entire company. What you do, for whom you do it and why.
  7. Maintains marketplace relevance. Companies fail for a multitude of reasons.  Failure to track buyer trends with a formal PLM process has proven fatal for many companies because without this structured method of gathering data and insights, they cannot respond to market changes in a timely manner.  

If your goal is growth you need a PLM. If your goal is innovation you need a PLM. If your goal is to increase profitability you need a PLM. Ultimately, if you want to build a profitable, sustainable, company that provides ongoing value to your customers you need a PLM, and there’s no better time than the present to start.

3 Steps To Begin Your Innovation Journey

On By Joe DeRosaIn BusinessLeave a comment

innovation

Regardless of how long you’ve been in business selling what you sell, STOP! Step back. Look at the market. I mean really look at the market. If you want to do more than survive you need to innovate. Innovation requires you to think differently. To be open-minded, honest, and critical of your current operation. I am not suggesting to be negative, but rather to be realistic and honest about what has changed around you. Take these 3 steps to begin your journey of innovation.

1. Complete a SWOT analysis. This is a detailed look at your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.  A SWOT can help provide much needed insight into your next steps. This exercise will force an outside-in view of the market.
2. Create a customer advisory board. Always an odd number of members, a small advisory board of between 5 and 7 customers can provide clear and honest feedback relative to your current products or services, as well as a great testing ground for new ideas. Make sure each member signs an NDA binding them to confidentiality of the information the board discusses.
3. Get a mentor. In an earlier blog titled Great Mentors – The Difference Maker, I talked about the purpose and importance of having a mentor. To be truly innovative requires a different level of thinking. Innovation tests previously held beliefs. In doing so, you will need someone to guide your thinking and keep you honest. Human nature is such that we tend to develop explanations for things we don’t understand or agree with…simply to make us feel better. A great mentor will make sure you face the truth even if it hurts.

Remember, to remain static is to lose ground. You’ve got to have the courage to try, and fail. Push your limits, test your boundaries. As Theodore Roosevelt said, “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure…than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy or suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

The Marketing Mix Has Changed

On By Joe DeRosaIn Business, Marketing2 Comments

Marketing

For those of us that have studied Marketing on our own or in college, we learned of the 4 P’s, either in a book, or in our first marketing class.  The idea of the 4 P’s was founded in 1960 by E. Jerome McCarthy, a marketing professor at Michigan State University. Professor McCarthy created what became known as the “marketing mix” which contained four specific elements including: Product, Price, Place, Promotion.

Every business has to decide what Product it will sell.  Features, benefits, and functionality must be defined. Once complete, the business moves to the next P which is the Price of the product (or service). Most times, the price is dictated by how much the business owner wishes to make…profit.   After pricing is complete the owner decides where he/she will sell their product – the Place. Traditional approaches assume that the bigger the city the better the opportunity. And so businesses take their product, and their price and head toward the cities with the largest populations assuming success. Finally, the owner makes the decision on how to best Promote, advertise or communicate their product to the marketplace.

Many business schools and books still tout the 4P’s of the marketing mix with little change. Unfortunately Marketing students end up with a very elementary view of the subject, not fully comprehending the seismic shift in the role and importance of this crucial business function. So what’s changed?

Perhaps the biggest change in the marketing mix is the arrival of 2 new P’s;  Person and Proof.

For years products and services were developed based upon an inside-out view…what the business felt was needed in the market. Little concern was given to what the market was lacking, needing, desiring. Build it and they will come, was the general sentiment.  However, companies like Apple, Samsung, Wegmans, Southwest, and Google came along and turned this belief on it’s head by focusing heavily on the Person. They looked at the market to determine what was there and what was missing. They listened closely to consumers to understand what they wanted. Instead of slamming a square peg in a round hole they changed the shape of the hole and in many cases created a custom fit, which has lead to an era of innovation.

Complimenting the Person was the arrival of Proof…or data.  Marketing automation systems, metrics, and dashboards have all contributed to marketing’s evolution as a profit center versus a cost center.  Data drives proof or disproof of the effectiveness of actions or activities.  Blending these two new P’s with the traditional P’s in the marketing mix allows marketing practitioners to create strategies and tactics that yield predictable and consistent results.

Two resources that offer great insights into the importance of these new P’s include:  What The Customer Wants You To Know by Ram Charan and Hubspots 120 Awesome Marketing Stats, Charts and Graphs.

Great Mentors. The Difference Maker.

On By Joe DeRosaIn Business, LeadershipLeave a comment

partner

In my previous blog, 5 Important Differences Between a Coach and a Mentor, I provided clear differentiation between these two advisers. Both play a valuable role in your development but go about it in entirely different ways. Understanding your current circumstances and having semi-clear objectives – goals – is critical in knowing which, a coach or mentor, would provide the greatest value.

While most coaches tend to have very specific areas of expertise, mentors are completely opposite. Mentors bring a broad set of skills, perspectives, insights and opinions to your developmental party. If you are fortunate enough to have a real mentor in your life consider yourself blessed…and lucky…for they’re not all that common. Remember, you select a coach, a mentor selects you. Great mentors can come from a variety of areas in your life. A relative, a friend, co-worker, boss, or business associate can all be potential mentors. What are the ingredients that make a great mentor?

  1. Deep life experiences. These experiences do not need to be in the area of your specific profession. The mentor has been in and around many different situations that have provided them with incredible insight and perspective.
  2. Demonstrates a personal interest in you. The mentor takes a proactive role in wanting to help you by providing valuable feedback, and guidance. Often times they proactively reach out to check in with you rather than waiting for your call.
  3. Excited and passionate about your development. The mentor never makes you feel like you’re on the clock. Instead they make you feel like they exist specifically to help you. Their energy and authenticity is tangible and easily recognized.
  4. Honest in a positive and constructive way. The mentor provides hard-hitting, honest feedback and observations, but does so in a way that doesn’t put you on the defense, or belittles you.
  5. Teacher, Coach, Counselor, Motivator all rolled into one. The mentor has a natural ability to weave in and out of these roles effortlessly with a near “cloak of invisibility” as they do so. Their deep understanding of you allows them to take the role most effective for the situation at hand, with the genuine intent to aid in your development, while never lecturing or criticizing.
  6. Trust. The single most important ingredient for any great mentoring relationship is trust. A strong, trusting relationship with a mentor creates the bond that is necessary for free-flowing, honest, personal, and sometimes difficult feedback without the fear of embarrassment or intimidation.

Great mentors do all these things and more. Having the benefit of a mentor gives you the ability to make better decisions, broadens your perspectives, and often times provides the clarity you need to move forward. These unique and wonderful people grace us with their active presence in our lives, teach us in ways others can’t, and provide us with the strength we need during life’s most crucial moments. Great mentors are in fact the difference makers in a life full of success and personal fulfillment.

5 Important Differences Between a Coach and a Mentor

On By Joe DeRosaIn Business, LeadershipLeave a comment

Helping-Mentor

Throughout your career, you will encounter moments that will present great challenges and/or opportunities.  Knowing what to do at those specific times depends on several things including experience, attitude, skills and capabilities, and the strength of your personal support network.    As you grow personally and professionally, the complexity of these circumstances increases and may create anxiety as you determine your next steps.  And while this is perfectly normal from a developmental standpoint, having a coach or a mentor by your side can make a huge difference in the quality of outcomes.  Understanding the difference between the two is the first step to making the right selection.

Many people believe mentors and coaches are the same…interchangeable terms.  But they’re not.  Mentors are quite different from coaches.  The key differences between the two are listed below:

  1. You select a coach, a mentor selects you.  As such, mentor relationships tend to last for years, if not a lifetime.  By the mentor selecting you, he or she is demonstrating their personal commitment and genuine desire to help with your personal development.
  2. Coaches focus on improving specific performance, usually on the job, while a mentor focuses on your overall development with a much greater focus on you, the person.
  3. Coaches interact through a formal structure, usually the same day and time each week – office hours.  The session follows a certain flow or formula for the review and update on the items discussed in your last meeting.  A mentor interacts as needed.  They’re “on-call” and happy to be so.  Less formal in nature, free-flowing, and very personal.
  4. Coaches tend to be “career-point-in-time” resources.  Meaning, few coaches can provide value in all stages of someones career.  A great high school football coach does not automatically equate to a great NFL coach simply because he understands the game of football.  As the stakes grow higher in your career, you will need to find a coach whose skills are equally equipped for the circumstances you are encountering.  The coach you had when you were 35, and in your first senior manager role, most likely will not be as effective for you when you are 45 in an executive role.  In contrast, a mentor is always focused on the “broad YOU”, gathering deep and intimate knowledge of the real you, thereby allowing them to provide valuable insights and guidance in nearly any circumstance.
  5. Finally, and perhaps the biggest difference between a coach and mentor is how they are paid.  Coaches, at least professional coaches, charge a fee for their service.  These fees range anywhere from a few hundred dollars per session into the thousands depending upon the circumstances, and length and frequency of the engagement.  A mentor has no fee.  They’ve taken you under their wing.  They have a personal connection with you and are committed to your development and success.

It’s important to understand that while different, there is a need to have both a coach and mentor in your life.  Both play very different, yet important roles in your personal and professional development.  Having a general understanding of your circumstance, time frame, and objectives will help guide your decision on selecting the right coach or mentor.  I will visit specific benefits of coaches and mentors in upcoming blogs.

The Best 6 Inspiration Books You’ll Ever Read

On By Joe DeRosaIn LeadershipLeave a comment

enlight

The self-improvement or self-help book market is estimated to be an $11 – $12 billion dollar business.  While the notion of self-improvement dates back to Greco-Roman times, self-help did not become a real industry until the last third of the 20th Century, marked as the post-modernism period.  Currently Amazon.com shows nearly 60,000 titles in their self-improvement category.  The question is, with that many titles and that much material being written, how much is really unique?  Of those 60,000 titles how do you know which ones provide the greatest insights that lead to those ever-coveted “ah-ha” moments?  To help you bypass sifting through 60,000 titles I’ve included my 6 favorite  self-improvement books that have inspired me over the years.   I have read each of them several times over as I have encountered different life situations.   I included some key learnings and some valuable excerpts from each below.

  1. Failing Forward, by John C. Maxwell.  Key Learnings:  Failure is the price you pay for progress.  “I’m not a failure, I failed at doing something.”  In 1922, Harry S. Truman was thirty-eight years old, in debt, and out of work.  In 1945, he was the most powerful leader of the free world.  Failure is not forever.  George Bernard Shaw said, “A life spent in making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”  The problems of people’s pasts impact them in one of two ways:  They experience either a breakdown or a breakthrough.
  2. Authentic Leadership, by Bill George.  Key Learnings:  When leading people recognize that the collective knowledge and wisdom of the team vastly exceeds your own.  Spend time identifying your life’s “crucible moments”, those times during which your circumstances and experiences resulted in life altering perspectives.  Authentic leaders must have:  Purpose (Passion), Values (Behavior), Heart (Compassion), Relationships (Connectedness), Self-Discipline (Consistency).  Cultural change is never an easy task, and far more cultural efforts fail than succeed.
  3. Quite Strength, by Tony Dungy.  Key Learnings:  If you want to win, do the ordinary things better than anyone else does – day in and day out.  Why would you let anything stop you from doing what you have the ability to do?  Focus on the job, not the surroundings, and embrace each situation rather than try to change it.  People look more closely at our actions during rough times, when our emotions are raw and our guard is down.  What’s important is not the accolades and memories of success but the way you respond when opportunities are denied.
  4. Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? by Louis V. Gerstner. Jr.  Key Learnings:  The marketplace dictates everything you should do.   Manage by principle, not by procedure.  When addressing groups of people whether employees, clients or shareholders, stand up and speak from the heart.  Sooner is better than perfect.  Sales is about fulfilling the demand that marketing generates.  Organizations are nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.  If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.  Stay connected to your top 25 clients…always.
  5. Thanks For The Memories Mr. President by Helen Thomas.  Great presidents (leaders) set great goals for mankind.  Be who you are.  Be consistent.  Focus on what matters most…the truth…and have no agenda.  Treat everyone equally regardless of their (political) affiliations.  This book showcases the importance of humor especially during times of extreme conflict, stress, and pressure.  Plain old funny.
  6. His Excellency by Joseph J. Ellis.  A powerful book that chronicles the unassuming rise of our first President.  Stresses the importance of possessing qualities including perseverance, commitment, determination, honesty, and courage.  Also suggests a role that perhaps fate played in George Washington’s rise to become President.  In the face of constant adversity, the necessity of a powerful and enduring will to keep moving forward appears almost super-human.

While these are just a handful of favorites, I have also found a great deal of inspiration in reading biographies, and autobiographies of historical leaders.  Presidents, world leaders, and even those of celebrities who conquered extreme childhood trauma or disappointments yet rose to become revered and respected are true inspirations.  I believe the greatest opportunities for learning and improving ourselves, can be found in the footsteps of the great ones who have walked before us.  Sometimes being reminded to do the basics well, can produce incredible world-changing results.

Your Leadership Style + Your Company Culture – Is There a Disconnect?

On By Joe DeRosaIn LeadershipLeave a comment

perception

Carrot and stick.  And so goes the age-old debate of how to achieve great business results.  Do you shower your employees with accolades and pats on the back?  Or do you focus on the consequences for under performance?  Is your tone one of optimism and assumed-success?  Or is your temperament such that you lead with a, “if we fail” mentality?

There are as many different leadership styles as there are leaders.  Our styles are born from our life experiences from childhood, up to and including, the role we currently occupy.  How you were raised is as important as how you were managed in the first several years of your career.  Most experts agree that the “formative years” for a child occur in their first 12 years of life.  Likewise, the formative years of someones career is their first 5 years in the workforce.

Human beings are natural-born observers.  We watch.  We absorb.  We learn.  We take what we learn and begin to construct potential outcomes for the scenarios we encounter later in life.  Like, cause-and-effect, we begin to build a mental inventory of outcomes based upon actions and reactions.  We learn how to alter outcomes by changing our actions or behaviors.  Yet we all learn in different ways.  Two people can experience the exact same event and have completely different views or perceptions of that event.  And herein lies the formula for how our leadership styles evolve.

Are you a positive motivator or negative?  How do you know?  Ask yourself the following questions:

  1. Do you work in your office all day with the door closed?
  2. When was the last time you sent a communication to recognize a team member?
  3. How often do you walk around the office making eye contact, saying hello, and simply engaging people?
  4. How many people on your team do you rate as a top performer, and if so, when was the last time you told them how much you appreciated them?
  5. Are you losing more than 20% of your employees each year?
  6. Do you hold regular team meetings or even informal get-togethers?
  7. Do you consistently meet, or miss, your numbers?

How you answered these questions may be an indication of your style of leadership.  On the other hand it may also be a reflection of the culture within your workplace.  Either way it’s worth your time to evaluate.  Why?  Because there are several reasons to have a true understanding of your personal style and that of the culture in which you work.  If you genuinely want to build lasting value – for your company or your client – the first step has to be the development of relationships.  In the absence of trusting relationships a company will not be able to experience sustained growth, and nor will you.

According to an article published earlier this year by Forbes, the number one reason people left their job was for stability reasons.  People leave when they don’t feel secure.  Insecurity is often the result of a bad manager.  In fact a subsequent article in the Huffington Post Small Business, it cites the number one reason employees quit is “Their boss sucks”.  Micromanagers and poor communicators topped the list of horrible bosses.  The negativity that flowed from these bosses infected the workplace so much so that people run for the doors.

According to the American Institute of Stress, the top 2 causes of stress in the workplace are work overload and people.  The AIS estimates that stress causes American businesses more than $300 billion each year in lost productivity with a major contributor being a negative workplace.  So how can you change it?  First change your behaviors.  Try doing these three things each day:

  1. Walk around the office at least twice a day and say hello to folks.
  2. Work with your door open (if you have an office) when you can.
  3. Look for the good things that are happening and recognize them.

These are all within your control.  If you’re working for a company that has a negative-tone culture you may need to reevaluate what’s most important to you.  Remember, jobs come and go, but your reputation stays with you no matter where you are employed.  Don’t let the dynamics of an organization define who you are and how you act.  If your belief system is in direct conflict with the office culture, you may need to make a change.  Great teams are built by great leaders, and to be a great leader you’ve got to recognize and acknowledge that your people are in fact your biggest asset.   Only by growing your workplace relationships, developing trust, and displaying respect will you be able to develop a high performing team.

Responsible Leaders Vs. Accountable Leaders. Which would you prefer to follow?

On By Joe DeRosaIn Leadership1 Comment

weaklink

Who’s responsible?  We’ve all heard that before.   Whether at home or at work, someone is always looking for the person in charge…the one responsible for things.  Who is responsible for this failed project?  Who broke mom’s favorite serving dish?  Who didn’t let the dog out?  Who ordered all these office supplies?  And on, and on, and on.

Whether we’re looking for someone to blame, or someone to recognize and promote, the fact is, we should be looking for the person accountable rather than responsible.  But is there a difference?  You bet there is.

Being responsible simply means you’re the person charged with getting something done.  But if you’re accountable you’re the person who ultimately answers for the outcome of the work done.  If the purchase order placed is wrong, the person who placed the order may have been responsible, but their boss is the one accountable for the result produced by the wrong order being placed.  Likewise if your son was responsible for letting the dog out and in the process the dog bites a neighbor, it is you, the parent who is accountable for that action.

Think of the picture above.  The link in this picture, represented by a twist-tie, has the “responsibility” to connect two ends of the chain.  However, this same link will not be held accountable when the chain breaks given that it’s size, strength, and structure are clearly not the same as the other links.  In the end, accountability lies with the person who attempted to take a short-cut and use a weaker link to hold the entire chain together.

Saying you’re responsible simply means you’ll get something done or taken care of.  It does not in any way provide a stated commitment to the quality of your action or work.  However, to say you are accountable means you’re willing to be held liable for any and all outcomes of the work or action you’ve taken.

It’s no wonder that most people are willing to say they are “responsible” individuals, but few are willing to be held accountable.  This is evident in everyday places from families, to companies, to government.  Often times you hear people say, “Well, I’m not the one responsible”.  What they are saying is, they were not the person who was charged with doing the thing that’s being criticized.  Skirting responsibility is actually quite easy and we see these behaviors daily in news reports.  If someone is truly accountable, and they accept total accountability, they in fact are standing up to say “whatever the outcome is you can blame me or congratulate me…I own it either way.”

Strong leaders take accountability for the results of the team they lead…good or bad.  They don’t hide behind someone else’s lapse of responsibility, but instead stand tall and take the high road.  Being accountable energizes and emboldens them to the work at hand.  Those are the leaders people line up to follow.  Those are the difference makers.