Accountability is one of JMARK’s core values, upon which we have built our reputation, success, and progress. We believe in following through on the commitments we make. We know that receiving credit or praise also means facing up to our imperfections, learning from them, and growing as a result. As with honesty, accountability goes hand-in-hand with the trust that our clients place in us. We know that the truth of who we are shows in every action we take.
Why is accountability important in business? What does it mean for a business to be accountable?
One important synonym of accountability is credibility. The more accountable your business is, the better the reputation you will have, which means your business will stand out in a competitive market where every advantage counts. Accountability is an ethical lifestyle; not just a business value.
Here is what philosophers, scientists, and authors have said about the great benefits of accountability:
2. “Accountability breeds response-ability.” –Stephen Covey
3. “Accountability means to say what you do, do what you say.” –Pearl Zhu, Digital Agility: The Rocky Road from Doing Agile to Being Agile
4. “Talent is part of the equation, but when you combine talent with accountability and authenticity, it is tough to beat.” –David Ross, Teammate: My Journey in Baseball and a World Series for the Ages
6. “Try holding yourself accountable to yourself. If you had to give yourself a daily, weekly, or monthly report, would you be proud to talk about what you had done, or would you need to be prettying up things, bullsh***ing, or lying to keep your job?” –Loren Weisman, The Artist’s Guide to Success in the Music Business
7. “It’s not about what we do today. It’s about who we are every day.” –Craig D. Lounsbrough
8. “Your organization needs great leaders at all levels, now more than ever. You need to be the best leader you can possibly be.” –Vince Molinaro, The Leadership Contract Field Guide: The Personal Roadmap to Becoming a Truly Accountable Leader
9.“Own your mistakes. Even when you’re in the process of screwing up.” –Amber Hurdle, The Bombshell Business Woman
11.“Truly accountable leadership is the only way to build an organization that can not only survive in our increasingly complicated world but also grow and thrive.” –Vince Molinaro, The Leadership Contract
12. “Real leadership involves clear communication, personal accountability, and a zest for bringing out the best in everyone!” –Farshad Asl
13. “Once people had a clear idea of what decisions they should and should not be making, holding them accountable for decisions felt fair.” –Gary L. Neilson, “Harvard Business Review‘s 10 Must Reads on Strategy”
14. “It is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the consequences of one’s acts.” –Mahatma Gandhi
16.“At the end of the day we are accountable to ourselves – our success is a result of what we do.” –Catherine Pulsifer
17. “Big pay and little responsibility are circumstances seldom found together.” –Napoleon Hill
18.“We are all responsible and accountable for what we do or say even if those behaviors occur in stressful times.” –Byron Pulsifer
19. “Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.” –Les Brown
21. “The benefit of truly accountable leaders is that they are able to create effective structures where their staff know what is expected of them and can improve the business for customers.” –Jane Storm
22. “Accountability is a statement of personal promise, both to yourself and to the people around you, to deliver specific defined results.” –Brian Dive, The Accountable Leader
23. “In the years I’ve been thinking and talking about leadership, I’ve come to realize that the desperate need for accountable leaders is the fundamental challenge organizations are facing today.” –Vince Molinaro, The Leadership Contract
24. “Individuals and teams have a sense of ownership, and are focused, disciplined and collaborative, while holding each other accountable for outcomes.” –Di Worrall, Accountability Leadership
26. “The enemy of accountability is ambiguity.” –Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
27. “360° accountability as an entrepreneur. You are held: accountable to God; accountable to your family; accountable to your team; accountable to your clients; accountable to yourself; accountable to your outcome.” –Farshad Asl
28. “It is easy to let go of the string and think: This isn’t me, it’s the arrow. My hands do not bear the blood of this boy, it’s the arrow that killed him, not me. But the arrow does not dream at night.” –Andrzej Sapkowski
29.“Take accountability before an excuse snatches you.” –Tyconis D. Allison Ty
31.“Wisdom stems from personal accountability. We all make mistakes; own them… learn from them. Don’t throw away the lesson by blaming others.” –Steve Maraboli
32. “Never compromise your values.” –Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free
33. “Leaders inspire accountability through their ability to accept responsibility before they place blame.” –Courtney Lynch
34. “It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.” –Moliere
36.”The price of greatness is responsibility.” –Winston Churchill
37. “A duty dodged is like a debt unpaid; it is only deferred, and we must come back and settle the account at last.” –Joseph Fort Newton
38. “Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.” –Les Brown
39. “I will either adamantly prioritize my agendas at the expense of the truth, or I will consistently bring my agendas into unrelenting obedience to the truth. And if for some reason you’re trying to determine who I truly am, the choice I make will tell you.” –Craig D. Lounsbrough
41. “The benefits and possibilities that are created by being personally accountable are countless.” –Jay Fiset, Reframe Your Blame, How to Be Personally Accountable
42. “Teams keep leaders accountable for the goal. Individuals connected to no one can change the goal without accountability.” –John C. Maxwell, The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork
43. “Obligers may find it difficult to form a habit, because often we undertake habits for our own benefit, and obligers do things more easily for others than for themselves. For them, the key is external accountability.” –Gretchen Rubin, Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives
44.“We’ve learned to hold ourselves accountable in the end, but we still fail to ask for help in the middle.” –Darnell Lamont Walker
46. “Accountability separates the wishers in life from the action-takers that care enough about their future to account for their daily actions.” –John Di Lemme
47. “There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.” –Denis Waitley
48.“When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that four of his fingers are pointing at himself.” –Louis Nizer
49. “A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for injury.” –John Stuart Mill
51. “Sometimes if you want to see a change for the better, you have to take things into your own hands.” –Clint Eastwood
52. “God gave burdens, also shoulders.” –Yiddish proverb
53. “If you can’t stand the heat, you’d better get out of the kitchen.” –Harry S. Truman
54. “Without accountability time would pass our intentions uncontested, then one day we awaken, finding our objective lost to the penalty of neglect.” –W. Larsen Hughes
56.“Blaming, whining, deflecting accountability, risk aversion, and resistance to change are a handful of symptoms of the adversity-beaten individual and organization.” –Paul G. Stoltz, The Adversity Quotient
57. “Neither age nor experience matters when it comes to being personally accountable for any and all outcomes—no excuses whatsoever—be they positive or negative, nor shifting blame to other people or to external factors.” –Kory Livingstone, “Quiet Determination”
58. “The worst thing that can happen to you as a young person, is to refuse to grow up. You refuse to grow up when you believe that someone else must take responsibility for your life and life circumstances.” –Saidi Mdala, Know What Matters
59.“No one knows themselves very well. Who has the time these days? Have you been formally introduced to yourself? Made the effort to get to know your faults and your strengths, sat yourself down to tea and listened to all your troubles, answered the call when your self falters? Then how can you say you know yourself in the least?” –Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two
