Accountability: The True Mark of Ambition for Young Leaders

A note to young leaders. Accountability is a sign of ambition.
In the late 1990’s, the late great John Caldon, formerly Deputy MD of Macquarie Group, had a new Executive Assistant assigned to him.

“She wrote a memo for me, Adam, and I pointed out a couple of typos. She was mortified and was very tough on herself.”

“Oh, that’s too bad”, I replied.

“No, no, that’s a good thing Adam. If a person reporting to you is unruffled or unapologetic when you point out an error – then they don’t care enough. They don’t hold themselves accountable to a high standard, and it’s only a matter of time before you have to fire them.”

If you’ve made an error, be quick to own up and show remorse.

Don’t leave your manager or your team wondering whether you give a damn. Give a damn, give many damns, give more damns than anyone else.