Ugly Truth on Accountability

It starts with you. When you aim to lead your organization and people to greatness, you need to be accountable to the company. There are things that people in leadership roles do that they believe are of little or no consequence that other people on the team see differently.

Throughout the years, I have had to come to terms with different things. I used to think it was my right to have the company pay for personal cars, meals, etc. When I really understood what it meant to want to lead my people to greatness, I recognized that these things I did hurt my intentions. I needed to change my approach to things. Even though I owned the company, it was not right to have my wife drive a company car nor pay for my personal dinners. As time went on, I was able to identify other little "perks" that negatively impacted the company and the people in it. The Ugly Truth was that I was hurting the company and the team's morale. I am the driver of the business and while I was pushing the company to be better, I was weakening it. This is not a comforting feeling.

I now view the company and run the company as if I was not the owner. This mindset helps me keep in clear focus the things that are unnecessary. My team now sees firsthand that I do not bleed the company of its money and I do not treat it as if it were my own. I now aim to protect the company from all predators, including myself. It is the best opportunity I have to build a sound financial future and I will not weaken this opportunity by making it bleed to satisfy my lifestyle. Many business owners do not understand this line of thinking, but it is this thinking that helps push businesses to greatness.

The company is on the best track to success that it has ever been on. I hope this pushes everyone to take less liberties in their business and treat it as the best opportunity they ever had for success.