“Next to doing the right thing, the most important thing is to let people know you are doing the right thing.” – John D. Rockefeller
Every day is an opportunity – and everything you have (whether it’s experience, assets or time) is an opportunity – not just to take responsibility, but to show responsibility for making things different to how they are.
Taking responsibility is doing the right thing wherever you are able. The choices you make will inevitably lead you to being the right person, at the right time, in the right place to take responsibility for whatever environment you are in. To initiate, propagate and compel change for the better, encouragement of what is good and education where there is opportunity.
Showing responsibility isn’t simply stepping up to make the rules and tell others how to go about their lives. Showing responsibility is connecting a series of discrete choices into personal ownership of resolving an issue or making a change. It’s not telling others what to do – it is taking ownership of what needs to be done, to ensure change occurs.
SOMETIMES THE YOUNG ARE BETTER SUITED TO RESPONSIBILITY THAN THE OLD?
It’s a very Aboriginal thing to do, to give younger people greater responsibilities within the community as they become able to take those responsibilities on. It is a culturally appropriate transfer of roles that involves respect in both directions.. from the younger to the older and the older to the younger. – Jackie Huggins
Younger leaders run the risk of asking to be credited with leadership and responsibility before we’ve shown anyone that we are prepared to take ownership. The tension between junior and senior, student and teacher emerges in the eternal desire of the young to surpass the old.
Communicating and showing responsibility builds trust and engagement.
A smart leader, no matter their age will strike out with their hands to take radical ownership of solving problems, initiating and propagating change. At the same time they strike out with their voices, to communicate their ownership, engagement and involvement with the issue. This is how social media channels have become a necessity of the modern activism movement. Leaders have begun to recognize and harness the power of giving voice to those committed to seeking change.
No matter how small, incite leadership opportunities around you by giving voice to the issues you want to show responsibility for.