Why You Should Accept More Blame
It's a natural human trait to avoid blame. As humans, we suffer from a self-serving bias - we will offer explanations that credit ourselves for good things, but tack the flame onto others when the heat's on. Whether it's to protect your reputation or your ego, it might seem like commonsense to avoid the pain of blame.
However, there may be a counterproductive effect from this: when you blame others for your own mishaps or misfortunes, you are subconsciously acknowledging (rightly or wrongly) that you did not have the power to change anything that would have created a better result. Otherwise, you should have done something about it, and you would be the one to blame for the failure. By blaming others, you are disowning any control you had over the outcomes.
By blaming others, you are disowning any control you had over the outcomes.
Instead, if you try to accept more blame and take responsibility, you can empower yourself to make change happen. By blaming others, you're only causing yourself more pain by disabling yourself of the opportunity to improve the outcome.
It's then no surprise that the best leaders who achieve the most are also the ones who humbly accept blame. According to a study by professors at the University of Michigan and Stanford University, leaders that fight the urge to pass blame increased company value by 19% on average, while leaders who blamed external factors only saw a 14% increase.
There may be further upside in accepting blame too. While people are busy pointing the finger, there is opportunity to change whatever it was that was causing people to complain in the first place. If the urge to pass blame is so primal, perhaps it has actually become a hindrance to our ability to spot the opportunities around us. While the low-hanging fruits are usually clearly visible and snapped up quickly like money left on the table, the nous to see through the self-inflicted fog of fear of blame may be all it takes to find the remainder of the fruit bounty.
In the spirit of self-improvement, what is a failure that can you take responsibility and ownership for today?
"A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit" ― John C. Maxwell
Collin Li is a management consultant with AT Kearney for clients spanning the top public and private companies in Asia-Pacific. Prior to AT Kearney, Collin managed the $50 million private label business unit of e-commerce retailer, Kogan.com.
Full Stack Marketer | Marketing Strategy | Developer
9 年Excellent article. Accepting blame (or 'taking responsibility') is quite rare, but it's also common to see it alive and well among the best performing executives and entrepreneurs. Generally speaking, I see two categories of responses to feedback that is perceived as negative by the receiver: 1. Taking responsibility - i.e.: 'I hear you, I'll fix that.' (and following those words up with actions, rather than simply paying the feedback lip-service). 2. Refusal to take responsibility - i.e.: Arguing and denying that such a thing could possibly be true. ('It wasn't me.', 'It's not my fault.', 'someone else is responsible.') The above is a slightly oversimplified model in some situations because for an organisation to scale and really get the most out of their personnel - ideally all team members need to have a sense of responsibility and be in the former category. (Encouraging others to take more responsibility who currently don't can be quite a challenging art-form in itself). I firmly believe executives with the latter response tend to get a lot less done. I'd say in part this is because the time they spent arguing could have been spent implementing solutions to the problem.
Co-Founder at CheckHero
9 年Great article Collin! Interesting to see how pervasive the effects of blame shifting are on an individual and an organisational level. Do you think an implication of this is that organisations should aim to build and foster a culture that encourages blame acceptance at all levels (and not just amongst its leadership)? Or is there such a thing as "too much" blame acceptance where it becomes counter-productive?
Replaying the best parts ??
9 年Thank you for your comments. I've enjoyed the dialogue this has sparked (both online and offline). Many have pointed out that this is only the tip of the iceberg: there are many benefits to taking blame quickly, beyond the tacit acknowledgement of having no power. Some have pointed out that this is just as applicable to improving your personal life. It's no coincidence, as this post was actually re-purposed and refined from an old personal blog I wrote well before my career had begun.
Associate Director Strategy & Innovation at RMIT University
9 年Thank you for this great article, Collin. You have indeed found a way to decipher some commonly occurring corporate behaviour patterns. I often find that once blame is accepted by an individual, this has an almost cathartic effect. People are then ready (provided they drew the right conclusions from the blame) to go ahead and (re-)assume responsibility.
Software Engineer | Mobile App Development | Embedded Systems
9 年Definitely an article entrepreneurs and leaders need to read and remind themselves. We can blame the economy, the job market and others but in reality, it is us that we have the power to change the outcomes.