Put your name on it was used by Seth Godin referring to improving quality and responsiveness. He goes on to say that some people avoid responsibility by working for large organizations where you can avoid signing much of anything! Do you take responsibility for your actions?
As a successful executive, I signed or put my name on a lot of things! I signed leases, contracts, budgets, loan documents and letter obligating the corporation. I recently shared My Journey to Success details some of the things I did on my way to success. Did it matter that I put my name on it? Not one bit because I always took responsibility for my actions no matter who did what! As n owner, everything was my responsibility because it was mine. It was as simple as that!
Taking responsibility is more than signing something. Holding yourself accountable for your actions and decisions is very important. You are responsible for everything you do, feel, think, and who you are. You are answerable for the consequences of your actions. When you make a mistake, do you take responsibility? All successful people make mistakes, but they take responsibility for their mistakes and move on.
Successful people are responsible for the results. I always start with the outcome or goal and work backwards. If I wanted to run in a Marathon (26.2 miles) one year from now, I would set up a training schedule to meet that goal. I would set up milestones and monitor the results. I would adjust my efforts at each milestone to meet my expectations. So who else should take responsibility for the success or failure of this goal?
Are you proud of your results? Successful people are self-motivated, enthusiastic and self disciplined. They do not just go through the motions! Does it matter if they sign off or not? They want to be proud of the results because they take responsibility for the results. It is important for them to succeed. They may hear no, many times, but it does not stop them. They do whatever it takes to get it done!
Do you like reaching your goals? Do you like success? Are you strongly motivated to achieve? Successful people are focused on accomplishing goals, projects and know how to get things done. They may use lists, set priorities or just respond to a need, but they like that feeling of satisfaction of accomplishing results. Are you productive or just busy? How are you doing with your goals?
Are you a problem solver? Would you recognize an opportunity? You are faced with a problem that will keep you from meeting your goal, what do you do? If you make excuses and blame others, you lose! Successful people never make excuses; they take responsibility and solve the problem. Many years ago, I recall a boss who wanted something at a particular price. I took that as a challenge and I beat it by nearly a thousand dollars. My boss was impressed with the results!
How do you distinguish yourself in your decisions? Do you look for opportunities to make decisions? Are you afraid to make mistakes? If you make a lot of decisions, you will make mistakes. Don’t be afraid of mistakes! Successful people make a lot of mistakes, but they make more right decisions than wrong ones. That is why they are successful! Your judgment improves with practice so go out and make lots of decisions!
What makes successful people so special? They know how to be successful! They have the skills, talent and knowledge and know how to get what they do not know. Many years ago I had a consulting assignment with a non-profit organization. I never worked with a non-profit, but my approach to problem solving was solid. I learned what I did not know by asking questions. It was a successful assignment.
Success is not an elusive idea! Start with a goal and a plan, approach it enthusiastically, work on your skills, use your talent and get the training you need. Learn to work with people because successful people do not accomplish goals by themselves. Work hard to get what you want. Anything worthwhile is not easy. You must believe you will be successful in order to be successful. Put your name on it!
Photo by: Marco Raaphorst
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I consider myself fairly successful and responsive but I will continue to be blogging anonymously. At work and at business school however, I will be taking this approach.
You create a reputation and following using your blogging name which is not totally anonymous.
Great post. I definitely agree with assigning yourself the responsibility to reach a goal. It makes a real difference.I actually ran a marathon a few years ago in Greece and it definitely required me to set up a training schedule and stick to it. It was hard at times but I kept telling myself I could do it. I have no problem committing to things- in fact I sometimes take on too much. Which is the lesser of two evils…lol?
A marathon is a great example of taking something huge and breaking it down for training. Concentrating on daily accomplishments will lead to reaching the goal. That is what a budget is supposed to do.
The Russians use this clever technique. MIG - Mikoyan and Gurevich , Sukhoi - Pavel Sukhoi, AK-47 etc.
I presume you are referring to technological and innovative achievements. The inventors you mentioned put their names on them.
I couldn’t agree more. While it may sometimes be difficult to take responsibility for mistakes, it really is the best way to learn from them and keep them from happening again down the road. Its the small actions like this that yield the most growth in our own personal evolution towards business goals and future promotions. I think taking responsibility for actions, whether right or wrong, is a valuable asset to have within a company. It keeps time management efficient and maintains forward progress through the work day.
In my former role as a CFO, it was impossible to hide. I was the messenger of good and bad news because I had to record it. More times than not, various people wanted to shoot the messenger because they did not like the news. As an owner you have responsibility whether you made the mistake or not.
Great thoughts KC – I think that taking responsibility for your goals will give you enough power to want to complete them. There’s no better way to do that than put your initials on it.
Sink or swim because you took responsibility for the outcome or goal. By putting your name on it, you publicly declared you are responsible.
Yes yes yes. I am solution oriented and have learned over the year to persist until I get my goal!!! Tenacity works!!! Great article.
I think tenacity is one of the traits for successful people. Giving up would mean you really did not want it.
I completely agree. You have to persevere….Thomas Edison said that “genius was 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration.” Stick to it and you can conquer anything.
Successful people stick with it even after they fail, one, two three time! You can call it determination, tenacity or just plain stubbornness!
I think tenacity is one of the traits for successful people. Giving up would mean you really did not want it.
Many people only want to put their name on something if it is a success, and put someone else’s name on it if it is a failure.
I am a crazy perfectionist who probably goes too far in the opposite direction.
I totally agree with your post, but I do think there is a percent of the population (probably a larger percent than I would like) that are ok with just getting by. I totally don’t understand those people, but they probably don’t understand me either.
Interesting point, there may more in that category than either one of us can imagine. In my classroom , the students who I remember are the over performers and the trouble makers. There is still a good size number who are anonymous.
I think that even beyond the aspect of putting ones name on something is the idea of taking individual responsiblity for one’s own present and future. Individual responsibility, along with goal setting and perseverence, can potentially take someone a long way.
Whether you are the boss or just the lowest employee, you should take responsibility for any of your efforts. On a personal level, you should hold yourself responsible and accountable for everything you do. You are responsible for success and failure! When I hear excuses for not doing something it makes me think they didn’t really want to succeed.
Hear hear!
During my sojourn as a manager I saw so many of my peers pointing fingers everywhere when they messed something up. It was sad and frustrating and upper management usually saw right through it anyway.
Everyone takes credit for success, but few will take responsibility when things go wrong. When I was CFO, I was just delivering the news and I always felt I was held responsible for the bad news.
Inspiring post as usual. When I was younger, I didn’t take responsibility. Didn’t want to fail. Didn’t put my name on it. No way to live really. Nowadays, there’s no such thing failure. Just opportunities to learn and improve. Have you considered writing a book? You’re motivational and success articles are top notch!
Thank you. Over time, you realize you can do anything you set your mind to do. A number of years ago, I started a book and stopped after one chapter. It was just too hard. I might reconsider!
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