The easiest path is pointing fingers. The braver path is looking in the mirror.
83% of executives admit to witnessing blame-shifting in their organizations, yet only 2% believed they contributed to the problem.
Microsoft’s transformation under Satya Nadella shows another way. He replaced a blame culture with a growth mindset, leading to an over 200% stock increase over five years.
“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.” – Viktor Frankl
The real culprits often hide in plain sight:
- Broken processes that nobody owns
- Systems running on outdated assumptions
- Training gaps disguised as performance issues
- Fuzzy accountability chains
- Leadership voids masked as team failures
- Inadequate instruction and defined outcomes
- Overlapping and broken functional roles and responsibilities
Organizations that look to improve their systems, processes, structure of accountability, and execution practices don’t just remove red tape – they eliminate entire categories of blame.
Next time you feel the urge to point fingers, pause. Ask what systems failed before asking who failed. The answer might be uncomfortable, but that’s where growth lives.
Leadership isn’t about finding fault. It’s about finding solutions.
