There is a point at which everything becomes simple and there is no longer any question of choice, because all you have staked will be lost if you look back. Life's point of no return.
- Dag Hammarskjold
Another part of character is responsibility and I think this is a very important aspect of character. Responsibility is about taking responsibility for things even when they are beyond your control.
My first day at West Point, I learned as a freshman - as a plebe, which is, I learnt at the time, was the lowest form of life on earth - I was trained to understand that to any question, I only have four answers. So imagine: my shoes are shined, my trousers are pressed, I'm going out to formation and Debra steps in a mud puddle and splashes mud and water all over my trousers and shoes. And Michael comes up to me 'cos he's an upper classman, and he says to me, "McDonald, you toolbox[I got called that a lot]! What happened to your trousers? What happened to your shoes? Didn't you shine them? Didn't you press your trousers?"
I roll through my answers. Four answers. One, "Yes, sir", that's not much of an answer, it's already happened. Two, "No, sir", well, if I said "No, sir" he would throw me out on a policy violation, because obviously something was wrong. "Sir, I do not understand", that was the third one [muffled laughter across the room...]. I did that one - you got it - I did that one, I said "Sir, I do not understand".
I did that for the first 2 weeks, I'm a slow learner, I didn't get it. "Sir, I do not understand", "Sir, I do not understand"... They sent me to the hospital for an audiology test, you know the thing where you press the button [click, click!]? "This guy must be hard of hearing! How did he ever pass the physical to get in here?".
It finally dawned on me, the fourth answer: "No excuse, sir". That's the fourth answer. "No excuse, sir". And what I learned is what a powerful statement that is. To say, "No excuse." even when something may be beyond your control.
Now think about it. If you're in a company - working for a company, and something goes wrong, who do you want to work for? Do you want to work for the leader that says, "Gee, hmm, I didn't know that was wrong! I should have checked Mike's work before we sent it up to the senior boss." Or do you want to work for somebody who says, "That's wrong. No excuse. Won't happen again." and they take responsibility.
Taking responsibility is something that is not terribly popular in our society today, but I think it's important. I think it's an important part of character and an important part of leadership, so I would urge you to take responsibility.
- Robert McDonald, Values-Based Leadership
