Be Willing To Accept Responsibilities

Some years ago, in conversation with a chief executive officer who had been on the job for six months, he was asked his opinion of the second-in-command he had inherited. He said, "He's a superb crisis manager, which is fortunate because his lack of judgment leads to a lot of crises."

Judgment is the ability to combine hard data, questionable data and intuitive thinking to arrive at a conclusion that proves to be correct. Judgment-in-action includes effective problem solving, the design of strategies, the setting of priorities and intuitive as well as rational judgments. Most important, perhaps, it includes the capacity to appraise the potentialities of coworkers and opponents.

James Madison, standing five feet, four inches tall, and weighing about 100 pounds, did not have a commanding presence and was not an effective public speaker. Yet, in his mid-thirties he was one of the most (some say the most)important contributor to the design of our political system. He understood how to translate our ideals into a system that worked, and he had the keen political sense and purposefulness to work with others toward a good result.

Strong leaders are willing and eager to accept responsibilities. This attribute is the impulse to exercise initiative in social situations, to bear the burden of making the decision, and to step forward when no one else will. On March 5, 1770, a confrontation between British soldiers and a crowd of Bostonians led to the death of five colonists. This became the so-called Boston Massacre. Fearing popular anger, three lawyers in succession refused to serve as defense counsel. John Adams thought it of great importance that the guilt or innocence of the soldiers be determined by a fair trial. Despite the fact that he was an influential member of the people's party, anything but sympathetic to the Crown, he believed it was his responsibility to accept the defense assignment.

A less dramatic example: When Golda Meir, later prime minister of Israel, was eleven years old and living in Milwaukee, she organized the American Young Sisters Society, a group of schoolgirls who raised funds for children who could not pay the nominal sum charged for textbooks in the Milwaukee public schools. That she should have regarded it as her responsibility spoke of leadership that was deeply rooted in her being and just waiting to come out.

Are you prepared to take a stance when the circumstances are ripe?