Accountability is the measure of a leader’s height

Leaders are not born, they are made.

I couldn’t agree more with this statement. What made Steve Jobs a great leader? Was he born that way? No.He definitely had something special in him, but the core reason was his keen focus on developing those skills. He is infamous for being socially awkward, but the truth is that he did not have time for anything else but his work. He held himself and others thoroughly accountable.

As defined in the dictionary, accountability is the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own actions. Highlighting “Own”. It is not about controlling the actions of others. It is about you.

Taking Steve Jobs’s story forward – think about the first iPhone. If Jobs had failed to create the iPhone the way we know it today, would anyone know its shortcomings? The answer is an obvious no. Nobody had ever thought that a phone could look, feel and work like that. But Steve Jobs spent endless hours working with his team to ensure that every molecule of that phone was perfectly designed. Modern phones have come a long way since then, but the first iPhone at that time was the eighth wonder of the world. 

What pushed Jobs to work so hard on that project? Wouldn’t a smartphone with lesser functions be sufficient? After all, it would still be the first smartphone in the world. Steve Jobs – an accountable leader who took complete responsibility for his own actions. He made sure that he did not do the bare minimum. He did the best that was possible. 

But what does an accountable leader do when projects fail? They still take full responsibility. There is a famous speech by former Indian President and the missile man of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, where he narrates about launching a satellite. 

The satellite was built in Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, and Prof Satish Dhawan was then the chairman of ISRO. On the day of the launch, the computer detected an anomaly and signaled to stop the launch. Dr. Kalam being the director of the project, consulted his team and took it into his hands to manually command the launch of the satellite. The satellite crashed soon after reaching the second stage. 

Now, it was time to face the media and give an explanation for the loss. Prof. Dhawan took complete responsibility for the failure without hesitation. He did not ask Dr.Kalam to face a single question. What an inspirational story! Watch the video if you have not watched it yet. 

Accountability means responsible behavior and ownership. It is a quality that should be practiced at every level of the organization. Every individual working in the company is an equal contributor to its success or failure. The employee might not be making the big decisions, but he decides his actions. Should I finish the work today or wait till the last moment? Should I be proactive and take up responsibilities or not? These are little actions that are capable of causing a massive impact. 

For an organisation to have accountability imbibed in its culture, it has to start from the top. Leaders should lay the path for the team to follow. And with the right people in the team, a company can reach great heights of success.