Accountability Often Begins Too Late

Executive Field Note 043

When something goes wrong, organizations ask who was responsible.

The question is understandable.

But responsibility usually enters the story after something has already become recognizable as a mistake.

Before that were assumptions.

Signals.

Incentives.

Information flows.

Prior decisions.

Things noticed.

Things dismissed.

Things no one thought to notice.

Accountability identifies where an outcome landed.

Understanding requires examining where it began.

Executive Question:

What happened before there was someone to hold accountable?

Published by Executive Insights. A publication of Axiom Research Press