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The following was written by Boyd Matheson.
What the world needs most today is a lot less shoulder-shrugging and a lot more shoulder-squaring.
Pointing fingers, placing blame and deciding who is at fault has become the norm in businesses, associations, communities, states and nations. This leads to the “It isn’t my job” or “That isn’t my responsibility” syndrome. Unfortunately this leads to poor service, poor performance and poor outcomes for everyone.
We live in a world bent on pointing fingers and placing blame anytime anything goes wrong. It is tempting to want to follow that path, but true leaders and true citizens know where the buck stops and who is ultimately responsible for failure or success.
Henry Ford declared, “Don’t find fault! Find me a solution!” An environment of fault-finding usually leads to more shoulder-shrugging, and few people who are willing to square their shoulders, take responsibility and do what needs to be done.
There is a classic story which sums up what happens with a shoulder-shrugging approach in our communities. It is the story about four citizens whose names just happen to be: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done in the community – helping to educate and train the young people on their vital role as citizens. Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. And while Anybody could have done it, Nobody did it. Somebody got angry because really it was Everybody’s job, yet Everybody thought Somebody would do it. But, of course, Nobody asked Anybody.
Everybody thought a meeting would help. Somebody couldn’t make it and suggested that Anybody could come up with a plan to execute in two weeks. Two weeks later when Everybody checked in, Nobody had done anything with Anybody so Somebody recommended they meet again in two more weeks.
Well, Anybody could have done it, Somebody would have done it, Everybody should have done it, but in the end Nobody did it.
So, when rising generation didn’t learn their civic duty and failed to work and serve in the community as they should Everybody blamed Everybody and Anybody for the problem, Nobody got back to work on a solution that Anybody could have come up with. And in the end the community failed and the community was ultimately given to Somebody else!
What kind of culture are we creating in our communities and state? Do we have a lot of shoulder-shrugging and finger-pointing to Somebody, Anybody, Everybody and Nobody? Or are we creating a culture of shoulder-squaring where personal responsibility and getting things right is all that really matters?
Boyd Matheson is president of Sutherland Institute.
