Accountability

Being “accountable” is the prime currency for “making it” in the universe at large as well as for “making it” in the personal universes we each inhabit.  You may have money and you may have power, but if you don’t have accountability, your run at the trough will be short-lived. 

Aug. 26, 2014: RICHMOND — Former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell concluded his nearly 24 hours on the witness stand Tuesday by telling jurors he regretted taking lavish gifts from a wealthy businessman but firmly insisting he never promised favors in return.  “I, as governor, allowed my life to get out of balance,” McDonnell (R) testified, agreeing that he and his family accepted too many luxury goods from Jonnie R. Williams Sr., the former dietary supplement company executive. “That was my error.”

By Matt Zapotosky and Rosalind S. Helderman

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/mcdonnell-again-says-he-promised-no-favors-for-gifts/2014/08/26/756aa1e8-2d41-11e4-994d-202962a9150c_story.html

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“The most damning thing you can say about a man is

‘He ain’t no account!’”

Max Master 

In large organizations, accountability tends to suffer in proportion to the size of the organization.   

“Too many people responsible, ain’t nobody responsible!”

Rufus Rufbucket 

 “In 2012, Breathitt County schools superintendent Arch Turner went to prison for running a vote-buying scheme with other local officials. As the bars clanked shut behind him, state audits showed that students routinely missed class and failed to learn; dropouts were erased from the books by reclassifying them as "homeschooled"; schools were in terrible disrepair; and the school district was running out of money, in part because of incompetent budgeting, inappropriate spending for insiders' personal benefit and an unnecessarily padded payroll.”

http://www.kentucky.com/2014/08/23/3393120/breathitt-school-board-remains.html##storylink=cpy

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“… as part of the [contract] settlement [between the Metropolitan Opera and associated artists, musicians and labor unions], the Met's finances will be subject to unprecedented oversight, with powerful new mechanisms put in place for enforcement and accountability. The contract calls for an "Efficiency Task Force" … to trim unnecessary costs [$11.2 million annually from Gen. Mgr. Peter Gelb’s budget], ensuring that the Met can be run more effectively.

We hope our unique system for financial oversight will … give all stakeholders the means to ensure that the past practices that led us to this brink [of insolvency-triggered demise] will not be repeated ...”

Metropolitan Opera Newsletter Vol. I, No. 4 (August, 2014)

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Surrogate accountability or accountability-by-proxy is common for athletes, relying mainly on coaches to keep them out of trouble, but is a very precarious way to live.  Unfortunately, when the coach isn’t looking over their shoulders, many athletes go off-track:  

“Kentucky Coach Mark Stoops … announced the suspensions of senior offensive tackle Darrian Miller and junior receiver Rashad Cunningham for Saturday's season opener against Tennessee-Martin.  Miller, a 6-foot-5, 292-pounder who had started the past 24 games for the Wildcats, was disciplined for an unspecified violation of team rules … Stoops also said that Cunningham will sit but the coach did not say what violation the receiver committed.  The coach says that senior wide receiver Demarco Robinson has “paid his price” and will play after being suspended for the final two games of last season for an unspecified violation.”  

http://www.kentucky.com/2014/08/25/3395847/kentucky-suspends-2-for-opener.html##storylink=cpy

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Unfortunately, not everybody gets a second chance.  Accountability “credits” are crucial for second chance justification – if there’s any justification to be considered at all. 

Accountability is comprised by the core elements of TRUST and DUE DILIGENCE.  We are charged to execute faithfully, fruitfully and expeditiously ALL of that with which we have been entrusted.   

Accountability is our ticket to the next dance – to progression, to promotion, to affirmation, to commendation.  Someone who can be “counted on” to do not only the “necessary” but the “right”, the “better” – dare one suggest “best” (?) – is like gold.  Wherever “the buck stops”, where principles are upheld, where practices and processes are perfected and where ownership is evident … where one deigns to do what others will not or cannot – that is where accountability shows its highest mark of distinction.   

Perhaps the best benchmark reference for accountability ever given is in Elbert Hubbard’s epistle: “A Message to Garcia”, originally published in March, 1899.  A link to this timeless piece is given here: http://www.pbs.org/wned/elbert-hubbard/message-garcia.php   Do take the time to read it, and liberally pass it along, as appropriate.  I think it should be required reading in the new Core Curriculum, underscoring Life Mastery Skills.  Quartermaster

“Any life, no matter how long and complex it may be, is made up of a single moment –

the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.”

Jorge Luis Borges