Take responsibility, make no excuses

How many ways can you justify that you haven’t done something? Usually, the sentence starts with “but”. “But I need to get an education first. But I have a family to support. But I do not want to hurt him. But I haven’t had time to practice. But we haven’t received the invoice.” Also, we all know that “gyms are just to crowded” and “it wasn’t our fault”.

Connecting through the Paris airport, I was on a bus full of travelers heading out for a remote boarding on a distant tarmac. When we reached our plane, we weren’t allowed to get out. Instead, an Air France person came onto the bus to let us know the airplane cabin wasn’t ready. I wasn’t concerned about the delay since I was not in a hurry, but I could see other passengers getting increasingly annoyed as the minutes passed. Once we were finally on the plane and settled in, forty minutes behind schedule, the captain came over the speaker. Honestly, I expected the standard, canned, insincere airline spin such as, “Sorry for the delay, but it’s due to the late arrival of the incoming aircraft” or some other routine excuse. Instead, here’s what the captain said: “I’d like to personally apologize for this delay. It was due to our failure to get the cabin ready on time, and as captain, I’m responsible for that. I didn’t get the job done. This is inexcusable. Our practices will change to ensure this never happens again, at least not with any team fir which I am responsible. This is not typical of Air France, and I hope you won’t hold this against us, because we can do better – and you deserve better. Now, please sit back and enjoy the flight. We may be late, but we’ll make it as pleasant as possible for you.”

From: Outstanding, John G. Miller

Next time when you fail, take responsibility and think about the cause of the failure and what you can learn from it.