The Leadership Playbook: Everything Is Your Fault

Your team didn’t deliver the numbers you needed. It is time to assess what went wrong and how to fix it. Here’s where you start:

Don’t be unhappy that your team didn’t deliver the numbers you needed them to deliver. Be unhappy that you didn’t lead them well enough to produce those results. As the leader, you were responsible for holding them accountable and making whatever changes were necessary to reach your goals.

Don’t be miffed that your team didn’t perform up to their abilities. Be annoyed with yourself for not developing and coaching them to deliver that performance. Once you hire someone, you are responsible for giving them everything they need to succeed. That means the mindset, skill sets, and tool kits. It also means the training, development, and coaching.

You shouldn’t be angry with people who are disengaged and who don’t buy into your vision. Be upset with yourself for not transferring your emotion to them strongly enough to engage them. People want to be inspired. They want to dream bigger. They want to make a contribution to a cause greater than themselves. You can give them that.

There are people who bother you because they destroy the culture you are creating with their negativity, dragging many good people down with them. Be bothered by the fact that you didn’t act soon enough to prevent them from doing so. One of your primary roles as a leader is to protect the culture you create from anything or anyone who would it harm.

The most successful people in life believe that they are responsible for the results they produce. People that struggle to find the success they are capable of look to externalities to explain away their lack of success.

If you are responsible for the outcomes you don’t like, you are also empowered to change them. Everything is your fault.