If you’re a leader who has someone reporting to them who isn’t getting the job done there are only two possibilities.

The first possibility is that YOU hired the wrong person for the job. The second possibility is that YOU have not provided the individual with the tools and coaching they need in order to succeed.

Either way, their lack of success is on YOU!

That’s called leadership. If you don’t like that or you don’t want to accept that, then perhaps the whole leadership thing is a bit beyond your abilities.

Are you riled up yet? I hope so because as a leader it can be good to show a little emotion once in a while. Riled up isn’t the best emotion in the world but hey, it’s better than no emotion. 

By the way, this post is not about emotion but now that I’ve gone there I think I need to go there a little more. Emotion doesn’t have to mean yelling, screaming, and waving your arms like a maniac. Sometimes the most emotional leaders are the ones who don’t waste their energies showing emotion, they invest their energies in caring for their people and helping them succeed. 

I know there may be circumstances beyond the control of a leader that can result in the failure of one of their people. I also know that even though those circumstances are few and far between many so called leaders often use them as an excuse for why they aren’t responsible for the failures of their people.

Here is the point of this post: If you want to lead then you must, you must, you must, accept responsibility for the vast majority of your people’s shortcomings. I know how hard that is, I know how much you want to resist that fact, and I know all to well the temptation to find another reason for the failure of one of your people. But Authentic Servant Leadership isn’t easy, building others isn’t easy and helping others succeed isn’t easy, but it is the challenge that Authentic Servant Leaders accept. 

I think one of the reasons I like blogging is that everything is black and white. I’m typing with black font on a white background.. it doesn’t get much clearer than that. I fully realize that blogging this stuff is much easier and clearer than living this stuff. That said, in order to truly lead you must at least consider your role in the failings of your people. The good news is that you may also consider your role in their success.

Leading people has many rewards but before an Authentic Servant Leader would dare to accept even a single reward they willingly accept responsibility for most anything that goes wrong.