Responsibility Strengthens Your Talent

Nothing adds “muscle” to talent like responsibility. It lifts talent to a new level and increases its stamina. However, as I consider the thirteen choices that help to create a talent-plus person, I realize responsibility is often the last choice people desire to make. The result is “flabby” talent that fails to perform and never realizes its potential. How sad for the person who fails to take responsibility. How sad for others. Author and editor Michael Korda said, “Success on any major scale requires you to accept responsibility …..In the final analysis, the one quality that all successful people have … is the ability to take on responsibility.” If you desire success, make responsibility your choice.



Extreme Talent



One day when I was flipping through television channels, I came across a program on PBS about rock climbers. What amazed me were their Spiderman-like qualities. The program focused on Dan Osman, a man in his midthirties who scrambled up a rock face in record time without the benefit of safety ropes. At one point in his climb, he literally jumped in order to reach a handhold and was momentarily airborne. If he had missed the hold he was reaching for, the fall would have killed him.

Intrigued, I did some research. I discovered that this particular climb was in California at a place called Lover’s Leap. The route he took is called Bear’s Reach. Evidently specific routes are named and rated by the first climber to successfully navigate them. Bear’s Reach is considered a 5.7 in difficulty on the Yosemite Decimal System. I didn’t know what that meant, so I looked it up. Any climb that begins with a 5 involves “climbing involving technical moves and protective hardware in case of a fall” or “thin, exposed climbing, requiring skill (the holds are not obvious to a novice—this is where weird moves such as laybacks, underclings, and evangelical hammerlocks come into play) . . . where serious injury or death is very likely if you take an unprotected fall.

In other words, it was very difficult. One rock climbing guide estimated that the average time it would take to climb the 400-foot-tall cliff face of Bear’s Reach was three hours. That would typically be done using safety ropes. On camera, Osman did what’s called a free solo climb—with no help and no ropes—just him against the rock face. He accomplished the feat in 4 minutes, 25 seconds! (Go to the Internet, type in his name on a search engine, and you will find a video of him in action.)



Developing His Skills



Osman started rock climbing when he was twelve years old. The son of a police officer father and a champion barrel racer mother, he is the descendant of samurai warriors. As a kid, he studied kung fu and aikido, a Japanese martial art that places high value on balance, control, and economy of motion. It took Osman eight years to become an expert climber, slow in his opinion, but he developed into a world-class climber and an expert rope rigger.

After more than a decade of climbing, Osman began experimenting with free falling. That’s where a person jumps bungee-fashion from a high place, such as a bridge or cliff, but instead of being connected to a springy bungee cord, he is connected to a climber’s rope. The rope has some stretch, but the fall is much more dramatic. It requires expert rigging and iron nerves. Osman began setting and breaking records for free falls. He became a legend among climbers and BASE jumpers (people who parachute from fixed objects). His fame grew, and soon creators of TV commercials and print ads started calling him.



Unlimited Talent – Limited Responsibility



But there was another side to Dan Osman. He had a difficult time functioning in the real world. His friends joked about Dano time—showing up to appointments hours late or sometimes not at all. His mother’s childhood nickname for him was “Danny I Forgot.” He continually received tickets for speeding and driving with a suspended license or unregistered vehicle—which he neglected to pay. He regularly depended on others to rescue him. Andrew Todhunter, who was so intrigued with Osman that he spent time with him over the course of three years and wrote a book about the experience, writes about Osman’s arrest for unpaid traffic violations. As Osman was being led away, he asked the writer to call friends, a retired couple who had “adopted” him. They were used to bailing him out. The woman, a retired executive, remarked, “I do worry a lot for him . . . What scares me is his jumping. He continues to want to jump farther and farther. I told him, ‘You’re not getting any younger, Dan. You’re going to have to think about your future a little more.’” Her concern was not for just him. Osman had a twelve-year-old daughter named Emma. He also had a live-in fiancée with a daughter.

Todhunter was amazed that Osman had such intense attention to detail and a strong sense of responsibility when climbing but so little for the rest of life. And he asked Osman about his responsibility to his daughter.

“If I fell while soloing I’d go against everything I represent, which is not pushing it, which is having the route ‘in hand.’ By dying I would let everybody down—my family, my friends,” said Osman. “I’d be robbing her if I fell. She knows her dad’s rad. Other dads don’t do this. She’s afraid, but she’s proud of what I’m doing. It’s like my father: I worry about him, getting shot, but then I hear what a good cop he is. And there’s a plaque on the wall: Officer of the Year.”



Record Breaker



On November 23, 1998, Dan Osman attempted his longest free fall 1,000 feet. He had originally intended to set the new record on October 26. He had prepared his rigging at Yosemite’s Leaning Tower and did some intermediate-distance jumps all the way up to 900 feet. Then he some intermediate-distance jumps all the way up to 900 feet. Then he got a call from Emma. She was crying; she was worried about him. He dropped everything and went to see her. Two days later he was back at Yosemite and ready to resume his jumps, but he was arrested for the kinds of things he never took responsibility for: parking tickets and a suspended license. He spent fourteen days in jail.

His friend filmmaker Eric Perlman, who had offered his house against Osman’s bail, talked to him after he got out of jail. Perlman recalls, “I told him, ‘You’ve gone far enough, pushed it probably farther than it should be pushed. Nobody’s going to touch this one [record] for a long time. Take the rig down, show the judge you’re serious, that you’re playing by the rules here.’ And he agreed absolutely. He said, ‘You know, you’re right. It’s what I should do. And my guardian angels need a break anyway. They’ve been working overtime for me.’”

But when Osman went back with a friend on November 22 to take down his rigging and pack up all his equipment, he couldn’t resist the urge to go for another record. First, he jumped at 925 feet. The next day, he talked his friend into jumping. Then Osman hastily rerigged everything for his own longer jump. By then it was late in the day, the sun was going down, and he couldn’t see well. He jumped anyway. When the sound of the rope going taut didn’t sound right, his friend knew something had gone wrong. He went to the base of the cliff where he found Osman dead. His rope had snapped.



Change in Perspective



While Todhunter was researching his book and spending time with Osman, he at first admired the climber and made allowances for his frequent displays of irresponsibility. He compared Osman’s behavior to “Picasso’s philandering” and “Faulkner’s drunkenness,” saying that great artists and athletic geniuses had an “inability or refusal to live within ordinary parameters.” But as Todhunter witnessed one reckless act after another, his point of view changed. He writes, “There are those professionals and volunteers who consciously and repetitively risk their lives in public service—and not infrequently lose them—for a worthy cause. Many of them, like Osman, have families to support. Watching the bridge jumping, I am struck for the first time by its profound pointlessness, by the immeasurable gratuity of the risk.”

Dan Osman’s talent was off the charts. Few people in the world can do what he did. His physical gifts, like those of Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, or Lance Armstrong, were phenomenal. But his lack of responsibility limited his life, and it eventually killed him. What a tragedy.



The Strength of Responsibility



We live in a culture that overvalues talent and undervalues responsibility. If you doubt that, then examine the way we treat our athletes. When athletes are in high school and college, their reckless or irresponsible acts are often overlooked in proportion to the talent they display on the court or playing field. What a disservice to them. Responsibility actually strengthens talent and increases the opportunity for long-term success. Here is how it helps:



1. Responsibility Provides the Foundation of Success

Sociology professor Tony Campolo points out the importance of having a strong sense of responsibility, especially in a culture like ours that values freedom. Of the American system, he writes,



While I think it lays down the principles that make for the best political system ever devised, the Constitution has one basic flaw. It clearly delineates the Bill of Rights, but it nowhere states a Bill of Responsibilities … Government that ensures people of their rights but fails to clearly spell out their responsibilities, fails to call them to be the kind of people God wants them to be.



I agree wholeheartedly with Campolo’s call for responsibility. In fact, for years I’ve taught leaders that as they move up the ladder and take on greater responsibility, their rights actually decrease. Leadership requires sacrifice. And while taking on responsibility is also a sacrifice, it is one that brings tremendous rewards.

Recently I had the opportunity to spend time on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. I received a tour of the ship and listened to many officers explain the various tasks and functions of the 5,500 people aboard the ship. What struck me was that the officers’ messages had a common theme. They talked about the importance of their area to the overall mission of the ship and how the responsibility for those functions was shouldered by a bunch of nineteen-year-old sailors. The officers made these statements with pride.

One officer told me about leading a former gang member under his command. The young man had been given the choice of jail or the navy. The troubled youth became an effective part of the team and was then the leader of his squad. His proudest moments in the military, this officer said, came from helping troubled kids to succeed.

What turned kids into productive citizens and troublemakers into leaders? Responsibility! When they entered the service, they became immersed in a culture of responsibility. That culture demanded that they act accordingly, that they become responsible and productive. When people respond to a call for responsibility by giving their best, good things happen.

The young men and women I met had made the choice to embrace responsibility, and it was creating success for them in the military. It will continue to provide a foundation for their success in the coming years, no matter what they do.



2. Responsibility, Handled Correctly, Leads to More Responsibility

Years ago the editor of the Bellefontaine (Ohio) Examiner, Gene Marine, sent a new sports reporter to cover a big game. The reporter returned to the paper with no report.

“Where’s the story?” asked Marine.

“No report,” replied the reporter.

“What?” growled Marine. “And why not?”

“No game.”

“No game? What happened?” quizzed the editor.

“The stadium collapsed.”

“Then where’s the report on the collapse of the stadium?” demanded Marine.

“That wasn’t my assignment, sir.”

People who handle their responsibilities well get the opportunity to handle additional responsibilities. Those who don’t, don’t.



3. Responsibility Maximizes Ability and Opportunity

During the major-league baseball players’ strike of 1994, many trading card manufacturers found themselves in a tough spot. Pinnacle Brands, however, was determined not to lay off any of its employees. Yet the company had to make some changes to be able to pay everyone until business picked up again. So what did management do? Placed the responsibility on the workers for finding ways to replace the $40 million in lost revenue. CEO Jerry Meyer told his employees, “I’m not going to save your jobs. You’re going to save your jobs. You know what you can change and what you can do differently.”

The people did not let themselves down. A custodian reported that the company spent $50,000 on sodas for conference rooms, an expense that was cut. A finance department worker found a way to streamline trademark searches that saved the company $100,000. A PR manager signed a deal to distribute pins at the Olympics, generating $20 million. In the end, Pinnacle was the only one of the top trading card manufacturers that didn’t lay off workers during the baseball strike.

Responsibility has value, not just in hard times, but at all times. It increases our abilities and gives us opportunities. One reason it does is that it causes us to take action, to make things happen. On the job, we need to take responsibility, not just for what we’re assigned, but for the contribution we make. For example, if you’re in business, at the end of every day you should ask yourself, Did I make a profit for my employer today? If the answer is no, then you may be in trouble. Take responsibility for being a contributor. Every worker needs to be an asset to the company, not an expense.

Author Richard L. Evans remarked, “It is priceless to find a person who will take responsibility, who will finish and follow through to the final detail—to know when someone has accepted an assignment that it will be effectively, conscientiously completed.” When leaders find responsible people, they reward them with opportunities and resources that help them to become more effective.



4. Responsibility, Over Time, Builds a Solid Reputation

Responsible people enjoy an increasingly better reputation. And that is one of the greatest assets of sustained responsibility. Others discover what they can expect from you, and they know they can depend on you. You’re solid.

In contrast, the longer you know a person who lacks responsibility, the less you trust him. It is not surprising to me that the better Andrew Todhunter got to know Dan Osman, the more reservations he had about him and what he was doing. A person may try to compartmentalize his life—taking responsibility in one area and shirking it in another—but in the long run it doesn’t work. Irresponsibility, left unchecked, inevitably grows and spreads into other areas of a person’s life.

A general from American history whose reputation continued to grow was Dwight D. Elsenhower. In fact, his reputation became so strong that it got him elected president. Though he was only an average president, he was an excellent general. One reason was his willingness to take responsibility for his decisions.

During World War II, Elsenhower was responsible for planning the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France. Giving the okay for the assault was a painful decision, one he knew that would lead to the deaths of many servicemen. Yet he also knew that if it was successful, it would be a pivotal point in the war against the Nazis.

Pat Williams, in his book American Scandal, writes that in the hours prior to the assault, Eisenhower handwrote a press release that would be used in the event of the invasion’s failure. It read,



Our landings have failed . . . and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and this place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air, and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone.



Elsenhower had determined that he would take responsibility for whatever happened. That mind-set earned the admiration of his fellow officers, his soldiers, and citizens alike.

If you want others to trust you, to give you greater opportunities and resources to develop and strengthen your talent, and to partner with you, then embrace responsibility and practice it faithfully in every area of your life.



TALENT + RESPONSIBILITY = A TALENT-PLUS PERSON PUTTING THE TALENT-PLUS FORMULA INTO ACTION



There’s no way for me to know your personal history in regard to responsibility. Maybe assuming responsibility has been a problem for you. Or you may have a strong sense of responsibility, and you never drop the ball. Either way, please review the following steps to help you become a talent-plus person when it comes to responsibility:



1. Start Wherever You Are

Greek philosopher Aristotle observed, “We become what we are as that we ourselves make.” Each time you make a responsible decision, you become a more responsible person. Even if your track record hasn’t been good up to now, you can change. Successful people take personal responsibility for their actions and their attitudes. They show response-ability—the ability to choose a correct response, no matter what situation they face. Responsibility is always a choice, and only you can make it.

If being responsible has not been one of your strengths, then start small. You can’t start from anyplace other than where you are. I think you’ll find that when it comes to responsibility, the best helping hand you will ever find is at the end of your arm.



2. Choose Your Friends Wisely

Since I’ve devoted an entire chapter to relationships and how they influence talent, I don’t need to say very much here. Heed the advice of trainer and consultant Kevin Eikenberry, who says, “Look carefully at the closest associations in your life, for that is the direction you are heading.” If you have started your journey on the road to responsibility, just make sure that you have the right traveling companions. You will find it difficult or impossible to be responsible when you spend most of your time with irresponsible people.



3. Stop Blaming Others

The sales manager of a dog food company asked his sales team how they liked the company’s new advertising program.

“Great!” they replied. “The best in the business.”

“What do you think of the product?” he asked.

“Fantastic,” they replied.

“How about the sales force?” he asked.

They were the sales force, so of course they responded positively, saying they were the best.

“Okay then,” the manager asked, “so if we have the best brand, the best packaging, the best advertising program, and the best sales force, why are we in seventeenth place in our industry?”

After an awkward silence, one of the salesmen stated, “It’s those darned dogs—they just won’t eat the stuff!”

If you want to be successful and to maximize your talent as a talent-plus person, you need to stop blaming others, take a good look in the mirror, and take responsibility for your own life. Television host Oprah Winfrey says, “My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.”

Ron French of the Gannett News Service writes that failing to take responsibility has become pervasive in America:



Ducking responsibility has become an American pastime. We all have learned to play the blame game, where the seven deadly sins are acceptable syndromes, and criminals are victims. From life-long smokers suing able syndromes, and criminals are victims. From life-long smokers suing tobacco companies, to students rationalizing cheating, we’ve become a nation of whiners and cry babies. “It’s part of the American character nowadays,” says Charles Sykes, A Nation of Victims. “We’ve gone from a society of people who were self-reliant to a people who inherently refuse to accept responsibility.”



People who think others are responsible for their situation assign the blame to various individuals, institutions, or entities. Some fault society or “the times.” Some point at the system or “the man.” (Criminals serving time in prison are notorious for blaming others and declaring their innocence.) Others rail against the previous generation as the cause of their problems. But do you know why? Cartoonist Doug Larson observed, “The reason people blame things on previous generations is that there’s only one other choice.”

Some of the best advice you could follow on this subject came from President Theodore Roosevelt: “Do what you can with what you have, where you are.” That’s all any of us can do. Don’t make excuses. Don’t look for others to blame. Just focus on the present and do your best. And if you make a mistake or fail, find whatever fault you can inside yourself and try to do better the next time around.



4. Learn Responsibility’s Major Lessons

There are four core lessons we need to learn if we want to display the kind of responsibility that makes us talent-plus people. The lessons are simple and obvious. They are also very difficult to master:

Recognize that gaining success means practicing self-discipline. The first victory we must win is over ourselves. We must learn to control ourselves. You can use any incentive you want to do this: the desire to follow moral or ethical values, rewards for delayed gratification, even the threat of public exposure. Business executive John Weston commented, “I’ve always tried to live with the following simple rule: Don’t do what you wouldn’t feel comfortable reading about in the newspaper the next day.” Every time you stop yourself from doing what you shouldn’t or start yourself doing what you should, you are strengthening your self-discipline and increasing your capacity for responsibility.

What you start, finish. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who do and those who might. Responsible people follow through. If they make a commitment, they see it through. They finish. And that is how others evaluate them. Are they dependable or not? Can I rely on them? Writer Ben Ames Williams observed, “Life is the acceptance of responsibilities or their evasion; it is a business of meeting obligations or avoiding them. To every man the choice is continually being offered, and by the manner of his choosing you may fairly measure him.”

Know when others are depending on you. Talent does not succeed on its own. (I’ll discuss that in detail in the next chapter.) If you desire to be successful, you will need others. Sometimes you will have to depend on them. And there will be times they need to depend on you. In my book The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork, I write about the Law of Countability, which says, “Teammates must be able to count on each other when it counts.”

The first step in making yourself the kind of person others can depend on is being dependable. The second is taking the focus off yourself and becoming aware that others are depending on you. Having the intention to be responsible isn’t enough. Your actions need to come through.

Don’t expect others to step in for you. The following challenge was issued to the 1992 graduating class of the University of South Carolina by Alexander M. Saunders Jr., chief judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals:



As responsibility is passed to your hands, it will not do, as you live the rest of your life, to assume that someone else will bear the major burdens, that someone else will demonstrate the key convictions, that someone else will run for office, that someone else will take care of the poor, that someone else will visit the sick, protect civil rights, enforce the law, preserve culture, transmit value, maintain civilization, and defend freedom.

You must never forget that what you do not value will not be valued, that what you do not remember will not be remembered, that what you do not change will not be changed, that what you do not do will not be done. You can, if you will, craft a society whose leaders, business and political, are less obsessed with the need for money. It is not really a question of what to do but simply the will to do it.



Many people sit back and wait for someone else to step up and take responsibility. Sometimes that is because of weak character—laziness, lack of resolve, and so on. But more often it comes from poor judgment or low self-esteem. People believe that someone else is more qualified or better situated to stand up and make a difference. But the truth is that most of the people who make a difference do so not because they are the best for the job but because they decided to try.



5. Make Tough Decisions and Stand by Them

When he was mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani kept a sign on his desk that stated, “I’m responsible.” In his book Leadership, he writes,



Throughout my career, I’ve maintained that accountability—the idea that the people who work for me are answerable to those we work for—is the cornerstone, and this starts with me ... Nothing builds confidence in a leader more than the willingness to take responsibility for what happens during his watch. One might add that nothing builds a stronger case for holding employees to a high standard than a boss who holds himself to an even higher one. This is true in any organization, but it’s particularly true in government.



That mind-set served him well during the crisis of 9-11 in 2001. He had to make many tough decisions very quickly. And whether they were right or wrong, he stood by them. His tough-minded responsibility coupled with strong leadership served the people well during that difficult time.

President Abraham Lincoln said, “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” Easy decisions may make us look good, but making tough ones— and taking ownership of them—makes us better.



6. Live Beyond Yourself

There is one more aspect of responsibility that I want to share with you. It will make you a talent-plus person beyond the level of those who simply take responsibility for themselves. It is the idea of taking responsibility beyond yourself by serving others. In a speech to the Massachusetts legislature on the eve of his presidency, John F. Kennedy said,



For of those to whom much is given, much is required. And when at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each one of us—recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our win responsibilities to the state—our success or failure, in whatever office we may hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions. First, were we truly men of courage [?] . . . Secondly, were we truly men of judgment [?] . . . Third, were we truly men of integrity [?] . . . Finally, were we truly men of dedication [?]



Self-serving people regard their talent and resources as what they own. Serving people regard their talent and resources as what’s on loan.

Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, spent the years after his time in the Nazi concentration camps trying to give back to others. He taught as a professor at Boston University. He also traveled extensively giving talks and sharing the wisdom he gained from his life experiences. One of the questions he asked young people was, “How will you cope with the privileges and obligations society will feel entitled to place on you?” As he tried to guide them, he shared his sense of responsibility to others:



What I receive I must pass on to others. The knowledge that I have must not remain imprisoned in my brain. I owe it to many men and women to do something with it. I feel the need to pay back what was given to me. Call it gratitude … To learn means to accept the postulate that life did not begin at my birth. Others have been there before me, and I walk in their footsteps.



Practicing responsibility will do great things for you. It will strengthen your talent, advance your skills, and increase your opportunities. It will improve your quality of life during the day and help you to sleep better at night. But it will also improve the lives of the people around you.

If you want your life to be a magnificent story, then realize that you are its author. Every day you have the chance to write a new page in that story. I want to encourage you to fill those pages with responsibility to others and yourself. If you do, in the end you will not be disappointed.