Consumed => “Let’s Bring Back Accountability” by Deborah Mills-Scofield on HBR.

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/07/lets_bring_back_accountability.html

=> My value add (i.e., left a comment)…

Thanks DM-S.

Three things to add:

1) I think it’s interesting that you started by referencing Bell Labs. The hay-day of which was when Ma Bell was a monopoly. Seeking profits (read: fear of failure) wasn’t in the Bell Labs leixcon for one simple reason – it didn’t need to be.

2) Accountability starts at home. If you want to hold others accountable, as well as (be honorable) and be held accountable by others, then the first step is to be willing to hold yourself accountable. Sadly, this is not a very popular virtue in contemporary culture.

3) Along the same line, leadership and management must embrace lead by example. By definition, “Do as I say not as I do,” is not an option. Yet how often do they try?