The marvelous thing about accountability is you can easily separate business builders who fully embrace it from those who fake it. Just ask a business builder to talk about missed company opportunities and tactical errors. Any person who has succumbed to rationalizing accountability will look back on problems and mistakes and say, "I lost an important customer because the competitor dropped its price." "I didn't get my financing because my controller didn't do the projections right." I didn't make any money this year because of my marketing and sales team. You'll notice these business builders do suffer the impact of problems. No question about it, they've been hurt. Yet, in their next breath they place the responsibility for missteps elsewhere. "I lost because of other people!"

Business builders might feel somewhat better when they can blame others for company mistakes. But eventually it catches up with the business builder and the company in a debilitating way. Excuses are tiresome to hear. And certainly no one is fooled by the verbal camouflage. Pretty soon everyone in your company is acting the same way, spending far too much time assigning blame than solving problems. It's why weak characters end up running weak, unproductive companies.

The little secret about business builders who accept total accountability for company performance is they are well-respected. Accountability inspires competitive strength. It's appealing and memorable when a business builder accepts accountability even for the most disastrous results.

There is one more delightful, unexpected secret about accountability. Great business builders appreciate that accountability is not binding, but tremendously liberating. When all components of perceived security and tactical blame management are removed from management conscience; business builders are free to build a more prosperous company. They are free to work closer with employees with mutual trust. They are free to experiment, test and challenge with less cautious reservation. They are free to think productively about the future, rather than hash over the failures of the past. And, they are free to work with more accomplished advisors and partners who respect management's mature mindset.

Why do great business builders always seem to have a finger on success? Simply stated, when problems arise they don't point to the person who goofed; they point to the problem itself and then organize the team to solve it...all without blame.