Passing The Proverbial 'Buck'

Point 01: Barack Obama
Point 02: Bill Cosby

There has been much hoopla surrounding some comments that Barack Obama had made during a closed San Francisco fundraiser. If you haven't been following this latest circus, do not fret, the good people at the Washington Post have been following "Bitter-gate" for you. Also, here is the original quote that caused all the commotion:

"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothings replaced them…And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." Barack Obama Speech in San Francisco April 6th.


While it can certainly be characterized as a gaffe, a flop, a political misstep, if you will, I would argue that its basic premise is sound. It goes to the heart of a huge problem that we have in this country, which is the complete and utter lack of personal accountability.

To that point, I read a great article in The Atlantic: "How We Lost to the White Man" about Bill Cosby's message to Black America (it is quite long, but worth the read). Dr. Cosby has become quite the provocateur as of late. He travels around the country preaching self-reliance and personal accountability to African American crowds. A message that resonates quite well with black conservatives. While some label Cosby an 'Uncle Tom' others--especially those who grew up during the Civil Rights movement of the 60s--are supportive of his message and his cause.

I realize it may be difficult to take seriously a white man trying to write about the plight of African Americans in this country, which is why I strongly urge you to read article from The Atlantic. It gives a great historic overview of the various black movements throughout the 20th century and gives a somber portrayal of its current state. I will not go much further on this specific point, but instead move on to the general thesis of this post.

Personal accountability is a quality that is held in high esteem by all, but practiced by few. The article I mention above does a wonderful job recounting how self-reliance helped bring African Americans in this country into a post-Jim Crow America. I would like to further generalize that point.

In my (albeit short) experience with working in the corporate world, I have found that personal accountability and self-reliance are much-coveted and very scarce resources. All too often people do just enough work, or just the right kind of work that when the hammer comes down, allows them to point the finger elsewhere while bemoaning "I did my part. I did all I could. I did all I was supposed to do." And so it goes with Obama's quote and Cosby's message. Whether it's the immigrants or the white man, it is always easier to put the blame elsewhere. It is a sad reflection on the state of our nation when these are the types of people we encounter everyday.

The most valuable piece of advice I can offer to anyone looking to succeed in their personal and/or professional life is this: take ownership.

Taking ownership means you are responsible for the failure and the success. It means the buck stops with you. It means you refuse to go through life trying to artificalially insulate yourself from failure. When things don't go your way, blaming a third party will not alter your course towards failure. In the end you must bear the cost and the burden. By taking ownership of all your decisions and actions and you in turn free yourself from the misguided decisions and actions of those that would try to point the finger at you and shoot you down along with them. In essence, you will have taken away their ammunition against you.

"A duty dodged is like a debt unpaid; it is only deferred, and we must come back and settle the account at last."
- Joseph Fort Newton

P.S. I realize this is supposed to be a tech-centric blog so here's a how-to on downloading YouTube videos in MP4 format [via Googlesystem].