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Leadership is about responsibility – from everyone, surely?
Punters sign up to mortgages without checking the small print, companies sign up to loans without checking the small print, fund managers buy up junk bonds, without checking the small print, banks buy up packages of debt without checking the small print, governments buy banks or bank debt.. without checking the small print….. we get the idea.
However, the blame cycle starts with media telling the people it is not their fault and they should blame someone else for not checking the small print. We are all culpable in this vicious cycle, because we all know someone who has made these decisions, even if we personally failed to vote in an election, we were copping out.
Is it not time to take responsibility, rather than dishing blame out? ‘Fat Cat’ bank bosses are no more villains of the piece than they were gods two years ago. They are representative of the rest of society, some evil, but generally just people trying to do a job to the best of their ability, in some cases falling short. Is it not time that all of us did some proper due diligence – no one should sign up to anything without checking what they are getting into first? If they do sign up to it on the basis that the buck won’t stop with them, then they probably deserve everything they are going to get.
Why not stand up and be counted, why not make some firm decisions based on the right legal, ethical, moral and commercial things to do. Surely this is what individual leadership is about – backbone, decisiveness and righting processes that are transparently wrong. If we demand it of ourselves as executives and of our public figures, then we need to demonstrate the same qualities in thought, word and deed and not allow the press to undermine confidence by further whipping up populist but misguided public sentiment. This is everyone’s problem and also society’s opportunity.
As Edmund Burke is often attributed as saying, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing".
However, the blame cycle starts with media telling the people it is not their fault and they should blame someone else for not checking the small print. We are all culpable in this vicious cycle, because we all know someone who has made these decisions, even if we personally failed to vote in an election, we were copping out.
Is it not time to take responsibility, rather than dishing blame out? ‘Fat Cat’ bank bosses are no more villains of the piece than they were gods two years ago. They are representative of the rest of society, some evil, but generally just people trying to do a job to the best of their ability, in some cases falling short. Is it not time that all of us did some proper due diligence – no one should sign up to anything without checking what they are getting into first? If they do sign up to it on the basis that the buck won’t stop with them, then they probably deserve everything they are going to get.
Why not stand up and be counted, why not make some firm decisions based on the right legal, ethical, moral and commercial things to do. Surely this is what individual leadership is about – backbone, decisiveness and righting processes that are transparently wrong. If we demand it of ourselves as executives and of our public figures, then we need to demonstrate the same qualities in thought, word and deed and not allow the press to undermine confidence by further whipping up populist but misguided public sentiment. This is everyone’s problem and also society’s opportunity.
As Edmund Burke is often attributed as saying, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing".
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Nick Hunt-Davies on -
I fully agree with the sentiments of the discussion points. There appears to have been a slide over time from a period when people were responsible and accountable for their actions, in all aspects of life. Part of this could be that society itself is pushing in this direction. You have liberalisation on one hand and petty controls on the other.
Western Australia is often referred to as the "nanny state" where so many small laws abound to cover what you can and cannot do and to regulate your daily activities. This is one step in removing personal accountability and responsibility - once a prescriptive law is in place it becomes someone elses problem if things go wrong. The ease of litigating against others is probably another - it must be someone elses responsiblity and I might be able to get a lot of money out of this.
With liberalisation comes the lack of controls - you want a loan - how much? - can they pay it back - who cares! With freedom comes a responsibility that a lot of people havent woken up to yet - or dont wish to acknowledge. These days, a lot of people do not seem to be as concerned with the consequencies of their actions as long as they come out of it alright.
When I started out my career in mining someone once told me that whenever you point a finger at someone there are three others pointing back at yourself - something worth considering.
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