This morning I spent the better part of an hour with a friend of mine discussing whether I should take upon myself certain responsibilities: He was quite insistent that I serve on a particular board and I, knowing that my hands were full, was very reluctant. “It means more than just sitting on the board!” I said, “It means shouldering the plough or taking responsibility!”
I pondered over it and a little while later read these interesting thoughts on ‘responsibility’:
‘Responsibility is a two-sided coin. On one side is responsibility; on the other side is reward. Too many of us are focused on one side of the coin only – reward.
Taking responsibility means three things:
1. Acknowledging what you are responsible for.
2. Acknowledging who you are responsible to.
3. Acting responsibly at all times.’
All the excuses you give yourself, and others, won’t let you off the hook. Jesus said, “Much is required from those to whom much is given.” Now that’s a thought isn’t it, that when you are given much, you are also supposed to return much!
At their annual conference the manager of a dog food company asked his sales team how they liked the company’s new advertising programme. “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 looked at each other and grinned, they were the sales force, so of course they responded positively saying they were the best. “Okay then,” the manager said quietly, “so if we have the best brand, the best packaging, the best advertising programme and the best sales force, why are we in seventeenth place in our industry?”
After an awkward silence one of the salesmen of the dog food company shouted angrily, “It’s those stupid dogs – they just won’t eat the stuff!”
Guess what? Our problem is not the dogs, or our job, or our spouse, or society at large, or whatever. Be honest, our biggest challenge in life is our own selves. If our life’s not going the way we want it to, we are responsible for changing it. And God will help us if we turn to Him. But we must want to change, decide to change, and work each day towards that end.
As I read the article, I realized that if I accepted the offer of joining the board, I would need to shoulder the plough and not say later, “It’s those stupid members I just can’t make them move!” My job was to take the responsibility of using words that would and follow it up with action that would take the organization to greater heights..!
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Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.
Rightly said !
I remember being told,’You shouldn’t have taken your piano lesson but should’ve attended the meeting that the family called to decide on whether or not to have our mother in law’s heart surgery.’ I had already said, ‘No,’ when I was asked by my eldest brother in law before the meeting.So I had decided to responsibly take my class and don’t regret it.
Taking responsibility is not a piece of cake. It means taking ownership. Success or failure, u own up. It’s worth the trouble.
Responsibility is not a word where we say I am responsible for it and don’t work on it.Some of the people in life have sloged thru their sweat to grow.They see that their employees r looked after well.Mr Ratan Tata