One of the most difficult and confusing things about leadership is the leader is not the point. Leadership is not about you. A leader may be the catalyst to change things for the better. A leader may be the key to unlocking others’ potential. A leader may get praised for a job well done or criticized for the tough choices necessary to get those things done, but in the end, leadership is about service to something beyond your own ambition. 

There is nothing wrong with ambition. Quite the contrary. The ambition to get better and achieve more can motivate us to tackle the tough problems, take the necessary risks, and stretch ourselves and those around us to learn and grow. There is nothing inherently wrong with looking around and striving for a promotion to increased responsibilities, influence and recognition. Leaders get off track when the desire for promotion, or for praise and recognition, becomes their purpose. Leaders get off track when their ambition to “get ahead” consumes their ambition to make a difference.

Think about someone you know who is focused first and foremost on climbing the next rung in the ladder. It doesn’t matter what the context is: big business, small business, not-for-profit, government or politics. Is this person likely to tackle a tough problem or play it safe? Is this person likely to bring up difficult issues, or tell people what they want to hear? Is this person challenging the status quo or do they tend to stick to the script and stay in their lane? Is this person focused on others or focused on themselves? Do they take credit for themselves or share credit with others? 

Over the last several weeks we’ve talked about why consistent high-performance requires accountability, and how the quality of planning and decision-making processes can support accountability. “Go Slow to Go Fast” is a useful reminder that we will always pay later for taking a short-cut approach to accountability.

High-performance cultures are ones where systems of accountability are built and reinforced, and where accountabilities are reviewed and recommitted to on a continuous basis. But let’s suppose you haven’t yet built these systems, and you’ve just fallen short of an important goal, and no one is stepping up to accept accountability. Now what?

It’s time to go back to the beginning and build that system. There are five requirements: