Leadership from my perspective

We had an interesting discussion on a social media site today regarding leadership and consequences inspired by my last blog post.

Consequences are the result of some behavior or action. They can be positive, or they can have some negative connotations to them. Leaders establish consequences through expectations. Establishing clear, consistent, and achievable expectations is a leadership function.

This is something I always taught my children while they were growing up. Decisions have consequences. They can be good, or they can be rather uncomfortable. It is in your decision-making process that sets you on the path towards this outcome. Not every good decision will have a good outcome, nor will every bad decision have a bad outcome. However, you must take accountability for the decision and the consequences of that decision.

Now, to be clear, we are not talking about transactional leadership here. The process of establishing expectations and therefore consequences is a function of any leadership model.

Taking ownership of the consequences of your actions, good or bad, is where accountability enters the equation. Being accountable for your actions is fundamental to consequences. Without accountability, would there be a consequence?