February 26, 2025 • 29 mins
Have you ever wondered what truly defines responsible leadership and how it shapes our personal and professional lives? Join Greg Powell and me as we unravel the complexities of this essential quality, drawing inspiration from Dr. Michael Durst’s transformative teachings in "Being the Cause." By sharing stories from my journey—from the creation of my first book, "Building Your Leadership Toolbox," to my narrative-driven second book—we highlight the tools and insights that have guided our discussions. Learn about the pivotal role of communication tools like ProWritingTeam, Grammarly, and Copilot in refining our storytelling and leadership approaches, and hear about the memorable compliment that underscored the reliability every leader strives to embody.
In our conversation, we tackle the art of balancing accountability with creativity, illustrated through a Six Sigma example that emphasizes high standards without errors. We discuss the dual nature of trust and delegation as cornerstones of effective leadership while acknowledging the challenges of being perceived as inflexible and the necessity for direct communication, especially in urgent situations. Greg wraps up with powerful action statements that serve as a beacon for those on their journey to becoming more responsible leaders. Tune in to explore the benefits of self-discipline, problem-solving, and effective time management as we invite you to reflect on your path toward embodying responsibility in both your career and personal life.
Presented by John Wandolowski and Greg Powell
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello everyone and welcome to the the podcast
Success Secrets and Stories.
I'm your host, john Wanaloski,and I'm here with my co-host and
friend, greg Powell, greg.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Hey, everybody yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
And today I wanted to do something a little unusual.
I wanted to do a reset of ourpodcast and talk about the real
purpose behind what Greg and Ihad talked about originally
almost three years ago, ofsharing the idea of what
responsibility looks like andthe kind of characteristics and
(01:01):
what that description reallycomes from, from our
understanding of going throughDr Michael Durst's program on
MBR.
And I found this wonderfulformat because I'm working on a
book, another book that isreally generated more of a story
.
One of the challenges I sawwith my first book, building
(01:25):
your Leadership Toolbox, is thatit's very mechanical and it was
taking more of a textbook andtrying to use that textbook and
showing more of how it wasapplied in my life and the
things that I thought werereally important from Dr Durst's
book called being the Cause andtry to bring that right into
the context so that you wouldhave an idea of where these
(01:47):
ideas were generated from.
It wasn't from me, it wassomebody who is a doctorate in
psychology that reallyunderstood his concepts and made
a wonderful training class, awonderful seminar that I applied
for my entire career, to behonest, and I was going through
(02:09):
trying to find some way to do abetter job of describing the
purpose of being a responsibleperson, being a responsible
manager.
They're kind of tied at the hip.
There isn't really somebody whounderstands how to be a
responsible manager that canapply that in their home
existence, in their home life.
It's probably more importantthat it's applied throughout,
(02:30):
that it isn't used selectively.
It should be your characteritself that makes a responsible
person a logical next step.
So when I went through thisexercise, I found a very
interesting writing program thatis helping me writing this
second book, and it's by acompany called ProWritingTeam
(03:01):
and it was from an article thatthey had in terms of describing
somebody who is responsible, assuch a light bulb moment.
I thought it was so dead on.
So when people have asked methe question of what is a
responsible person, what is aresponsible manager?
Look like this software programthe creators of ProWritingTeam.
(03:26):
Their nickname is that they'rea grammar guru, but it's much
more than that.
It's a very good approach interms of creating
characteristics and giving alanguage to that description.
So I'll admit it right now myEnglish teachers are probably
(03:47):
going through shock that I'mwriting books, but it's a
subject that I know very well,so therefore I feel far more
competent and stretching alittle bit and writing about a
subject.
This software program,prowriting, and the software
(04:07):
programs that I have used likeGrammarly and Copilot and some
other tools, have helped me be abetter communicator and that's
kind of like the idea that Ithink I want to start with.
If you're responsible, you'refinding the tools to give you
the ability to communicate.
I have found these three toolsis very helpful, so I want to
share this one and one of thecategories that they have for
their description to help youunderstand the writing capacity
(04:29):
of character development is theprobable causes of being
responsible where theindividuals or the characters of
your story are being assignedtasks of importance or requiring
a reliable behavior.
Experience the negativeconsequences of working with
(04:52):
someone who is not responsibleor a leader who is avoiding
responsibilities and repeatingthe same mistakes.
Being praised or being rewardedfor responsible behavior that
reinforces that kind of activitybut that usually is others
recognizing it in the characterand a natural responsible person
(05:15):
having the inclination forstructure, order planning go
hand in hand with responsibilityattitude.
Growing up in an environmentwhere responsibility is highly
valued and molded by parents andcaregivers, that's like a star.
That was literally theenvironment that I was in, my
(05:36):
parents valued theresponsibility and the truth and
accountability, and I alwayshave to giggle when I think back
.
My dad was from the old schooland it was the firstborn had be
the leader of the family ifsomething happened to him and he
was always preparing me to leadthe family and he was teaching
(05:58):
responsibility at a very earlyage in my opinion, a little too
early, but it's all part of whatwe learn as we grow up and how
our parents teach us thosethings.
Responsibility was somethingthat was taught to me from a
very early age.
(06:18):
Now, attitudes that are relatedto being a responsible person
and this is where I think it wasinteresting from a writer's
perspective.
What are those characteristicsthat should be demonstrated?
And this was like on the markof hitting the buttons of what I
interpret as somebody who wasbeing responsible, demonstrating
self-discipline or self-control, being honest and transparent.
(06:41):
Being honest and transparent,taking ownership of one's
mistakes and correcting them,prioritizing obligations and
commitments, being responsibleand dependable, showing respect
for rules, laws and authority,being proactive and taking the
(07:02):
initiative, being accountablefor one's actions and decisions
that's a little bit of arepetitive and planning or
organizing tasks and activities.
And really, when you'rethinking about it.
When I'm trying to train othermanagers and other directors,
the things that you usually aretrying to demonstrate and you're
(07:24):
trying to show proficiency inare exactly those kinds of
subjects the discipline, thetransparency taking on and, I
think, one of the highestcompliments I got as a manager.
I was working in amanufacturing environment and a
general manager pulled me to theside and said you know, I
(07:45):
appreciate your honesty, butthere's nobody in that room that
I trust when they say thatyou'll take the responsibility
to get the results.
I have to check on the others.
You're the only one that I givethe responsibility to and I
know the job's going to get done.
Highest compliment I've evergotten because he could see that
(08:08):
sense of responsibility and howI conducted myself and how my
department operated.
So in the writer's context ofthis pro-writing software,
thoughts and struggles link tobeing responsible, and now these
are where the little pieces ofmy life start to kind of rise
(08:30):
back up to the top.
Need to control and the orderof their lives and their
surroundings.
You want to control it, but thetruth is you can't.
You can maybe steer it, but youcan't control it.
Fear of letting others down ordisappointing them Too?
True.
The tendency to put othersahead of your own needs,
(08:55):
sometimes to self-neglect True,and I have stood in front of
some ignorant executives thatwere picking on my staff Yep, at
my own cost of my career, butthat was my job because I was
their manager.
I was their director.
(09:15):
That's what you do if you'reresponsible.
The tendency to take on too muchresponsibility and being
overwhelmed I think I justtalked about that.
But, yes, dead on the desire todo the right thing, even if
it's difficult or unpopular.
Yes, without a doubt.
(09:35):
If I was going to try todescribe in the shortest
sentence possible, that wouldprobably be the number one.
The next one is also aninteresting element that I have
to teach people to understand,in a responsibility kind of
approach, the difficulty ofdelegating tasks to others and
trusting them to do a good job.
(09:55):
Actually, the trust part, it'sa little bit simpler for me.
If you use this process of beingresponsible, I trust the
individuals that are given theresponsibility, but don't lie,
don't cheat, just be honest andif you have a problem, don't try
(10:16):
to disguise it and don't try tohide it.
A strong work ethic anddedication to achieving the
goals yes.
A sense of duty and obligationkind of repetitive, a little bit
guilt and self-criticism whenmaking a mistake or falling
short of your own expectations.
Yes, yes, without a doubt Now,the emotions that are associated
(10:40):
with being responsible, and Ithink I kind of tipped the hand
on some of these examples.
We've just talked about Duty,commitment, conscientious time
management, trustworthyorganizational skills,
accountability, self-discipline,mature, dependable, reliable,
wonderful terms that are usuallyused with people who understand
(11:03):
the concepts.
So I've talked to all about thethings that are positive for
people who are responsible andunderstand what that truly means
.
But, greg, I'm going to tapyour talents on the people that
you have learned and talked tofrom a human resources
perspective that really didn'tget the message of
(11:25):
responsibility.
Why don't you pick us up fromthere?
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Thanks, john.
So let's talk a little bitabout body language, and I told
a story about this some time ago.
I was at a big meeting.
My boss was texting me and Ilooked down at the text I'm
trying to pay attention to thismeeting and he said the text
said smile.
And I looked up and I thought,oh my gosh, I've got this
(11:50):
grimace on my face.
I'm the leader of my functionand I'm in front of these very
important people and I'm socaught up into this I'm
expressing myself in a way Ididn't want to.
So let's talk a little bitabout that body language.
Avoid fidgeting or nervoushabits.
Sometimes you remember folksthat had a pen.
Click the pen off, click it off, click it on right.
(12:11):
Oh God, yes, just works youover, right.
How about posture Standing upstraight with the shoulders back
?
Not a good time to be slouchingor hunched over this one.
It goes through pretty mucheverything in leadership.
Maintaining eye contact.
You're not looking away, notlooking up, not looking down.
Maintaining eye contact.
(12:31):
We talk a lot about this,taking ownership of mistakes,
and then, yeah, it's OK toapologize when it's necessary,
but first if you made a mistake.
That's a great leadershipdisplay to your folks that
you're willing to own that, oneof the things I've been told
over years I'm pretty good at.
I don't know if I see it thatway or not, but keeping a calm
(12:52):
and composed demeanor.
I'm not sure if I'm doing it ornot or I did it, but I can tell
you it's important.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
You do it very well, but you have also helped people
who are overly excited to becalm.
You've been doing that in termsof helping people from your
human resources perspective allthroughout your career, so
you've helped other peopleunderstand that too.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Thank you, john.
It's been my attempt Also,speaking clearly and confidently
, having that punch in the voice.
You're not wavering, using openand expressive hand gestures.
You don't have to keep yourhands by your side, in fact,
don't do that.
You know, if you can use yourhands in a way to uh, get
people's attention and sell apoint, go ahead and do that.
(13:35):
Putting your head up and downwe call it nodding, and nodding
in agreement.
Yes, that kind of body languagereally shows that you're being
responsible.
It shows that you're payingattention, that you're into this
and, as my colleague is doingright now, leaning forward to
show interest right, that's abody language thing that says,
oh my gosh, this person isreally into what's going on here
.
They're being responsible.
(13:58):
We're going to talk a little bitabout behaviors linked to being
responsible.
So here are some of thosebehaviors.
One being proactive in findingsolutions to problems right, not
sitting on the sidelines, butgetting ahead of things, taking
care of one's own needs andresponsibility right, be
responsible for yourself, john,and I talked about this from
time to time, and we talkedabout it earlier today.
(14:19):
Being reliable and punctual mygosh, I was in human resources
for most of my career.
Just be there and be there ontime right.
Two of the easiest things to doBe reliable and be punctual,
admitting mistakes and takingownership of them.
Again, you're modeling abehavior to your employees.
Some may want to be asupervisor, some may want to be
a manager, but admit to yourmistakes and help find solutions
(14:42):
, planning ahead and beingprepared for potential problems.
You don't walk into the roomand say what are we doing today,
what are we doing tomorrow?
You know, look ahead, bethoughtful about your intentions
, of meetings, of gatherings, ofactivities, of where things are
going.
A big one and John's talked alot about this communications
Now communicating effectivelyand honestly with others, and
(15:06):
that should be one of the thingsyou prioritize.
That's something you start offwith.
That you're going to say thewords that people understand to
get to a certain place.
Follow through on commitmentsand promises.
Don't make idle promises.
Don't make idle commitments.
They need to mean something.
So if you say it, you need todo it.
And then, finally, beingaccountable for one's actions
(15:27):
and their consequences.
You might make a mistake and itmight be a penalty to pay, but
so be it.
You have to be accountable as aleader.
You just really there's nochoice here.
So let's talk about stereotypesof responsible characters to
avoid, and what I'm going toshare with you are examples of
folks that came into my officein human resources.
(15:47):
So these are for real One beinga pushover or lacking
assertiveness.
You need a spine, you need abackbone, you need to stand up
tall to be a peer, to be aresponsible individual, being
overly cautious or hesitant tomake decisions when people say
is this okay?
What do you think?
Am I making a mistake here?
(16:08):
Hey, at some point you justhave to suck it up and don't
point at other folks.
Don't do the blame game.
Be responsible.
Perfectionism to the point ofbeing unrealistic or
unattainable, to where there hasno value, you know, trying to
get that perfect thing, so what?
Make sure it's right, it'saccurate, but don't worry about
(16:31):
being a perfectionist.
Be realistic and make sure thatwhat you're trying to do is
attainable.
You won't believe this, butit's true.
There are boring and dullpersonalities out there and
personally I felt bad for somebecause there were some really
nice people.
But that doesn't get the jobdone.
You've got to have someactivity, some fire, some juice
whatever you want to call it inhow you present yourself and how
you interact with others to beperceived as being responsible,
(16:54):
being overly serious orjudgmental.
All right, how many times we'vetalked about yeah, he's kind of
judgy.
She's kind of judgy there.
Boy, this guy is so serious.
Does he take anything at facevalue?
What's going on here?
It's not that big of a deal.
So try to avoid those types ofappearances Inability to take
risks or try new things.
(17:14):
Again, trying to play it safeCan't do that.
As a leader, you've got tostick your neck out Reasonable
right, reasonable risk butyou've got to take risks.
You've got to try new things.
You're supposed to bring in newprocesses, new creative ideas,
so you're going to have to trynew things.
You can't sit with what's beenthere forever and ever.
You're not going to get anyprocess improvement that way.
And then, finally, lack ofspontaneity or flexibility.
(17:38):
You've got to be willing tojust take off right.
You see something, let's go 90%.
We say, if you're 90% there,just go with it right and
demonstrate that flexibility.
Well, I know we've always doneit like this, but why don't we
try Janie's idea and go thisdirection and be willing to, as
a leader, do something different, john.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
So, again, to try to describe what a responsible
person is and what does it meanto be a responsible leader just
to reinforce some of the thingsthat came from this writing
exercise, especially when I wasin healthcare and with the
(18:27):
concept that was always in theback of my mind that, no matter
what I did in my job, if I'm notkeeping the patient in mind,
and that they're in the mostvulnerable position sitting in a
hospital bed, we are dependentupon giving them the safest and
the most comfortable environmentfor them to heal as possible.
(18:49):
And, trust me, as I say this, Ican feel that sense of doing
the best you can and notaccepting.
You know, that's thatperfectionism that you had to
stop, because we are human.
You can only take it so far,but it was setting that bar so
high.
I think that the line thatkeeps on rolling in my head
(19:10):
every time I say this issomebody was teaching the
concept of taking responsibility, and it was in the Six Sigma
environment and how it had to bethe best you can produce.
And their example was well,let's pretend for a second that
we're talking about a procedure,that you're in charge of babies
(19:31):
at a nursery, and how manyerrors are you allowed, meaning,
how many babies can you drop?
Well, if you've got any number,it's not acceptable.
It is a zero requirement.
You don't drop babies.
And that's what the teacher wastrying to get across.
That care for making a productshould have that kind of sense
(19:55):
of not accepting errors and awonderful kind of teaching
moment, moment, difficulty,delegating tasks or trusting
others.
I think the difficulty has cometo me whenever I gave that trust
and it was basically notrespected and that individual
(20:18):
usually ended up being fired.
Because that was myresponsibility giving them the
trust, giving them all the toolsto be successful, but then they
don't.
They don't get a free pass.
They have to be responsible fortheir results at taking 100%
responsibility for what I do,but you have to take 100%
responsibility for what you do.
When that delegation or thattrust is violated, that's when
(20:42):
those numbers start to change,is violated.
That's when those numbers startto change, being viewed as
being uptight or inflexible ortoo direct, guilty.
I have been told that I am fartoo direct and I should be
careful when I apply those kindof direct conversations.
I think the biggest problemthat I had with being too direct
(21:03):
is when we were in an emergencyor something that had happened
on the site and action wasrequired.
There wasn't that opportunityto be politically wise, there
was the responsibility to actand get results, and that
usually was the time that Iwould get in trouble and they
would talk to me after.
But when I kind of pressed themI have the skill set I chose
(21:25):
not to use that skill setbecause of the environment that
we were in.
Sometimes people who areresponsible have to do that too.
It's a lot easier to be, youknow, open and exchange of ideas
, but if there's a fire that'sliterally glowing in the
background, that's not the timeto exercise proper English.
(21:46):
You want direction.
And then the other element thatthe writers caught on is that
there's the anxiety when plansdon't work.
The wisdom is to know when it'sgoing awry, having all those
butterflies and then finding away to pull the resources back
together again and come out aplan that works, even though
(22:08):
it's the second attempt.
You can't get everything rightthe first time, but not
accepting that as an excusereorganize, do it again.
The positives of beingresponsible is that it
encourages problem solving.
It builds on trust.
Responsibility also helps withself-discipline and
(22:31):
self-reliance.
Responsibility promotes thesense of purpose and
accomplishment.
Being responsible is beingaccountable for your actions and
your decisions, and also alittle bit of pride that goes
with that, and also a little bitof pride that goes with that.
Being responsible also meansthat you have demonstrated
better time managementapproaches and better
(22:51):
organizational skills.
I can tell you that beingresponsible, you also need to
communicate the positive thingsthat you have done and your
department have done, becausequite often people who are very
responsible aren't intopromoting.
It's a different skill set, butyou still need to do that in
order to be helpful for yourdepartment, not just yourself.
(23:13):
And it helps to be able tounderstand the skill sets of
prioritizing tasks and defininggoals effectively.
I have found where I was theweakest is when I was giving
goals and I would not be direct.
Uh, define the goals to be veryprecise and I know I just
talked about being too directbut sometimes goals, if you're,
(23:36):
if you're not being effective intrying to communicate what
you're looking for for an endresult, you're not going to get
that end result.
So the clearer a goal isdefined, the better you're going
to get as a result.
Greg, I think you have a fewideas on what that sounds like.
I do.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
John, Thank you.
So let's talk a little bitabout verbal expressions of the
responsible individual.
There are several of them.
I actually call them actionstatements because I think
that's what they really are.
I will fulfill my commitments.
I will right.
I sign on the dotted line.
I'm going to do what I said Iwas going to do.
I will own up to my mistakes.
(24:18):
We've been talking about thattoday.
If I made a mistake, I'm notgoing to try to blame somebody
else, point the finger atsomeone else.
I'm going to own up to it andalso help look for a solution.
I will be organized andprepared.
That's on me.
I will take the time to makesure that happens.
I am accountable for my actionsNot my assistant, not someone
(24:40):
that reports to me, not my bossbut I am accountable for my
actions.
I will follow through on mypromises Very close to
fulfilling my commitments.
It just means that if you sayit, it should happen.
There's no question about that.
If you make a promise we're nottalking about pinky promises
here In the business situationif you make a promise, you need
(25:01):
to deliver on that promise.
I will be reliable andtrustworthy and if you want the
team to be able to really worksuccessfully and effectively.
They got to know that they cantrust you and you've got to be
reliable.
I will prioritize my duties andresponsibilities.
That's no one else'sresponsibility, that's mine.
I prioritize what I need to doto help the group, the goal, the
(25:25):
objective, make it successfuland all the responsibilities
that come with that.
Here's a simple one I will takecare of it.
Right, that's me stating anaction that's going to happen.
As a leader, as a responsiblehuman being, I will take care of
it.
It's done, Got that.
I will be proactive inaddressing issues.
(25:46):
What are we saying here?
You're going to be lookingahead and trying to ward off bad
things by being vigilant andcoming up with ideas to keep
things on the straight andnarrow path that you're trying
to get them on, John.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
So, being that this is a software designed for
people who are writing.
They were talking aboutcharacters that show that sense
of responsibility, like Frodofrom the Lord of the Rings and
then probably the last one isHermione Granger from the Harry
(26:22):
Potter series.
All these characters showedthat they had a sense of
responsibility.
Again, I just thought that thiswas a great time to step back
and talk about the pro-writingaid team, which they define
themselves as the grammar gurus.
It's a wonderful softwareprogram.
They have a free, limitedservice.
(26:42):
Then they have two otherproducts a premium a wonderful
software programs.
They have a free, uh uh,limited service.
Then they have two otherproducts a premium and a premium
pro.
I I would strongly suggest, ifyou're going to be writing a
book, this seems to be just, uh,an outstanding platform and I I
strongly recommend it.
So I wanted to really takeadvantage of resetting and
(27:06):
talking about responsibility,because I had the opportunity to
work with a team and we createdan audio book.
And what's kind of fun aboutthe audio book?
We had two character actorsthat did my voice and did Dr
Durst's voice, and Dr Durst,again, is the creator of the MBR
Program, management byResponsibility, and it was my
(27:29):
attempt to say how I conductedmyself and how I saw those words
that I used from his book beingthe Cause, how I applied it in
real life and how it actuallyaffected the things that I did
and the way that I accomplishedall the things that I was able
to do within management and sawthat reflected back into people
(27:52):
who reported to me.
So, if you get the opportunity,it's on Amazon, it's in Barnes
Noble.
The audio book is actually donepretty well.
I can tell you that it's atextbook format, so the
beginning of the book is alittle slow because it's
building the story.
You can go through the firstcouple of chapters quickly, but
(28:16):
the heart of the book is likethe third and the fourth chapter
and on, and give it a listen.
I think it's actually somethingthat you might find interesting
and entertaining and helpfulall at the same time, if you
like what you've heard.
Yeah, building your leadershiptoolbox is available on the
(28:40):
Amazon and Barnes and Noble thatI just talked about.
So is the audio book, so is thepaperback, so is the paperback,
so is the hardcover.
It's a lot of different formats, Kind of like the audio book
out of that group.
This podcast is available onwhat you're listening to, thank
you.
It's also available on Appleand Google and Spotify and other
popular formats.
Dr Durst's book and his MBRprogram is available at
(29:05):
successandgrowthacademycom, andif you want to contact us, you
can contact us atwwwauthorjawcom, and the music
has been brought to you by mygrandson.
So we want to hear from you.
Drop us a line, send us a note.
We have changed our platformand we have learned a lot from
(29:27):
your input too what you like tohear from and how we can enhance
your learning process.
So thanks Greg, thanks John.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
As always.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Next time yeah.
Hello everyone and welcome to the the podcast
Success Secrets and Stories.
I'm your host, john Wanaloski,and I'm here with my co-host and
friend, greg Powell, greg.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Hey, everybody yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
And today I wanted to do something a little unusual.
I wanted to do a reset of ourpodcast and talk about the real
purpose behind what Greg and Ihad talked about originally
almost three years ago, ofsharing the idea of what
responsibility looks like andthe kind of characteristics and
(01:01):
what that description reallycomes from, from our
understanding of going throughDr Michael Durst's program on
MBR.
And I found this wonderfulformat because I'm working on a
book, another book that isreally generated more of a story
.
One of the challenges I sawwith my first book, building
(01:25):
your Leadership Toolbox, is thatit's very mechanical and it was
taking more of a textbook andtrying to use that textbook and
showing more of how it wasapplied in my life and the
things that I thought werereally important from Dr Durst's
book called being the Cause andtry to bring that right into
the context so that you wouldhave an idea of where these
(01:47):
ideas were generated from.
It wasn't from me, it wassomebody who is a doctorate in
psychology that reallyunderstood his concepts and made
a wonderful training class, awonderful seminar that I applied
for my entire career, to behonest, and I was going through
(02:09):
trying to find some way to do abetter job of describing the
purpose of being a responsibleperson, being a responsible
manager.
They're kind of tied at the hip.
There isn't really somebody whounderstands how to be a
responsible manager that canapply that in their home
existence, in their home life.
It's probably more importantthat it's applied throughout,
(02:30):
that it isn't used selectively.
It should be your characteritself that makes a responsible
person a logical next step.
So when I went through thisexercise, I found a very
interesting writing program thatis helping me writing this
second book, and it's by acompany called ProWritingTeam
(03:01):
and it was from an article thatthey had in terms of describing
somebody who is responsible, assuch a light bulb moment.
I thought it was so dead on.
So when people have asked methe question of what is a
responsible person, what is aresponsible manager?
Look like this software programthe creators of ProWritingTeam.
(03:26):
Their nickname is that they'rea grammar guru, but it's much
more than that.
It's a very good approach interms of creating
characteristics and giving alanguage to that description.
So I'll admit it right now myEnglish teachers are probably
(03:47):
going through shock that I'mwriting books, but it's a
subject that I know very well,so therefore I feel far more
competent and stretching alittle bit and writing about a
subject.
This software program,prowriting, and the software
(04:07):
programs that I have used likeGrammarly and Copilot and some
other tools, have helped me be abetter communicator and that's
kind of like the idea that Ithink I want to start with.
If you're responsible, you'refinding the tools to give you
the ability to communicate.
I have found these three toolsis very helpful, so I want to
share this one and one of thecategories that they have for
their description to help youunderstand the writing capacity
(04:29):
of character development is theprobable causes of being
responsible where theindividuals or the characters of
your story are being assignedtasks of importance or requiring
a reliable behavior.
Experience the negativeconsequences of working with
(04:52):
someone who is not responsibleor a leader who is avoiding
responsibilities and repeatingthe same mistakes.
Being praised or being rewardedfor responsible behavior that
reinforces that kind of activitybut that usually is others
recognizing it in the characterand a natural responsible person
(05:15):
having the inclination forstructure, order planning go
hand in hand with responsibilityattitude.
Growing up in an environmentwhere responsibility is highly
valued and molded by parents andcaregivers, that's like a star.
That was literally theenvironment that I was in, my
(05:36):
parents valued theresponsibility and the truth and
accountability, and I alwayshave to giggle when I think back
.
My dad was from the old schooland it was the firstborn had be
the leader of the family ifsomething happened to him and he
was always preparing me to leadthe family and he was teaching
(05:58):
responsibility at a very earlyage in my opinion, a little too
early, but it's all part of whatwe learn as we grow up and how
our parents teach us thosethings.
Responsibility was somethingthat was taught to me from a
very early age.
(06:18):
Now, attitudes that are relatedto being a responsible person
and this is where I think it wasinteresting from a writer's
perspective.
What are those characteristicsthat should be demonstrated?
And this was like on the markof hitting the buttons of what I
interpret as somebody who wasbeing responsible, demonstrating
self-discipline or self-control, being honest and transparent.
(06:41):
Being honest and transparent,taking ownership of one's
mistakes and correcting them,prioritizing obligations and
commitments, being responsibleand dependable, showing respect
for rules, laws and authority,being proactive and taking the
(07:02):
initiative, being accountablefor one's actions and decisions
that's a little bit of arepetitive and planning or
organizing tasks and activities.
And really, when you'rethinking about it.
When I'm trying to train othermanagers and other directors,
the things that you usually aretrying to demonstrate and you're
(07:24):
trying to show proficiency inare exactly those kinds of
subjects the discipline, thetransparency taking on and, I
think, one of the highestcompliments I got as a manager.
I was working in amanufacturing environment and a
general manager pulled me to theside and said you know, I
(07:45):
appreciate your honesty, butthere's nobody in that room that
I trust when they say thatyou'll take the responsibility
to get the results.
I have to check on the others.
You're the only one that I givethe responsibility to and I
know the job's going to get done.
Highest compliment I've evergotten because he could see that
(08:08):
sense of responsibility and howI conducted myself and how my
department operated.
So in the writer's context ofthis pro-writing software,
thoughts and struggles link tobeing responsible, and now these
are where the little pieces ofmy life start to kind of rise
(08:30):
back up to the top.
Need to control and the orderof their lives and their
surroundings.
You want to control it, but thetruth is you can't.
You can maybe steer it, but youcan't control it.
Fear of letting others down ordisappointing them Too?
True.
The tendency to put othersahead of your own needs,
(08:55):
sometimes to self-neglect True,and I have stood in front of
some ignorant executives thatwere picking on my staff Yep, at
my own cost of my career, butthat was my job because I was
their manager.
I was their director.
(09:15):
That's what you do if you'reresponsible.
The tendency to take on too muchresponsibility and being
overwhelmed I think I justtalked about that.
But, yes, dead on the desire todo the right thing, even if
it's difficult or unpopular.
Yes, without a doubt.
(09:35):
If I was going to try todescribe in the shortest
sentence possible, that wouldprobably be the number one.
The next one is also aninteresting element that I have
to teach people to understand,in a responsibility kind of
approach, the difficulty ofdelegating tasks to others and
trusting them to do a good job.
(09:55):
Actually, the trust part, it'sa little bit simpler for me.
If you use this process of beingresponsible, I trust the
individuals that are given theresponsibility, but don't lie,
don't cheat, just be honest andif you have a problem, don't try
(10:16):
to disguise it and don't try tohide it.
A strong work ethic anddedication to achieving the
goals yes.
A sense of duty and obligationkind of repetitive, a little bit
guilt and self-criticism whenmaking a mistake or falling
short of your own expectations.
Yes, yes, without a doubt Now,the emotions that are associated
(10:40):
with being responsible, and Ithink I kind of tipped the hand
on some of these examples.
We've just talked about Duty,commitment, conscientious time
management, trustworthyorganizational skills,
accountability, self-discipline,mature, dependable, reliable,
wonderful terms that are usuallyused with people who understand
(11:03):
the concepts.
So I've talked to all about thethings that are positive for
people who are responsible andunderstand what that truly means
.
But, greg, I'm going to tapyour talents on the people that
you have learned and talked tofrom a human resources
perspective that really didn'tget the message of
(11:25):
responsibility.
Why don't you pick us up fromthere?
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Thanks, john.
So let's talk a little bitabout body language, and I told
a story about this some time ago.
I was at a big meeting.
My boss was texting me and Ilooked down at the text I'm
trying to pay attention to thismeeting and he said the text
said smile.
And I looked up and I thought,oh my gosh, I've got this
(11:50):
grimace on my face.
I'm the leader of my functionand I'm in front of these very
important people and I'm socaught up into this I'm
expressing myself in a way Ididn't want to.
So let's talk a little bitabout that body language.
Avoid fidgeting or nervoushabits.
Sometimes you remember folksthat had a pen.
Click the pen off, click it off, click it on right.
(12:11):
Oh God, yes, just works youover, right.
How about posture Standing upstraight with the shoulders back
?
Not a good time to be slouchingor hunched over this one.
It goes through pretty mucheverything in leadership.
Maintaining eye contact.
You're not looking away, notlooking up, not looking down.
Maintaining eye contact.
(12:31):
We talk a lot about this,taking ownership of mistakes,
and then, yeah, it's OK toapologize when it's necessary,
but first if you made a mistake.
That's a great leadershipdisplay to your folks that
you're willing to own that, oneof the things I've been told
over years I'm pretty good at.
I don't know if I see it thatway or not, but keeping a calm
(12:52):
and composed demeanor.
I'm not sure if I'm doing it ornot or I did it, but I can tell
you it's important.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
You do it very well, but you have also helped people
who are overly excited to becalm.
You've been doing that in termsof helping people from your
human resources perspective allthroughout your career, so
you've helped other peopleunderstand that too.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Thank you, john.
It's been my attempt Also,speaking clearly and confidently
, having that punch in the voice.
You're not wavering, using openand expressive hand gestures.
You don't have to keep yourhands by your side, in fact,
don't do that.
You know, if you can use yourhands in a way to uh, get
people's attention and sell apoint, go ahead and do that.
(13:35):
Putting your head up and downwe call it nodding, and nodding
in agreement.
Yes, that kind of body languagereally shows that you're being
responsible.
It shows that you're payingattention, that you're into this
and, as my colleague is doingright now, leaning forward to
show interest right, that's abody language thing that says,
oh my gosh, this person isreally into what's going on here
.
They're being responsible.
(13:58):
We're going to talk a little bitabout behaviors linked to being
responsible.
So here are some of thosebehaviors.
One being proactive in findingsolutions to problems right, not
sitting on the sidelines, butgetting ahead of things, taking
care of one's own needs andresponsibility right, be
responsible for yourself, john,and I talked about this from
time to time, and we talkedabout it earlier today.
(14:19):
Being reliable and punctual mygosh, I was in human resources
for most of my career.
Just be there and be there ontime right.
Two of the easiest things to doBe reliable and be punctual,
admitting mistakes and takingownership of them.
Again, you're modeling abehavior to your employees.
Some may want to be asupervisor, some may want to be
a manager, but admit to yourmistakes and help find solutions
(14:42):
, planning ahead and beingprepared for potential problems.
You don't walk into the roomand say what are we doing today,
what are we doing tomorrow?
You know, look ahead, bethoughtful about your intentions
, of meetings, of gatherings, ofactivities, of where things are
going.
A big one and John's talked alot about this communications
Now communicating effectivelyand honestly with others, and
(15:06):
that should be one of the thingsyou prioritize.
That's something you start offwith.
That you're going to say thewords that people understand to
get to a certain place.
Follow through on commitmentsand promises.
Don't make idle promises.
Don't make idle commitments.
They need to mean something.
So if you say it, you need todo it.
And then, finally, beingaccountable for one's actions
(15:27):
and their consequences.
You might make a mistake and itmight be a penalty to pay, but
so be it.
You have to be accountable as aleader.
You just really there's nochoice here.
So let's talk about stereotypesof responsible characters to
avoid, and what I'm going toshare with you are examples of
folks that came into my officein human resources.
(15:47):
So these are for real One beinga pushover or lacking
assertiveness.
You need a spine, you need abackbone, you need to stand up
tall to be a peer, to be aresponsible individual, being
overly cautious or hesitant tomake decisions when people say
is this okay?
What do you think?
Am I making a mistake here?
(16:08):
Hey, at some point you justhave to suck it up and don't
point at other folks.
Don't do the blame game.
Be responsible.
Perfectionism to the point ofbeing unrealistic or
unattainable, to where there hasno value, you know, trying to
get that perfect thing, so what?
Make sure it's right, it'saccurate, but don't worry about
(16:31):
being a perfectionist.
Be realistic and make sure thatwhat you're trying to do is
attainable.
You won't believe this, butit's true.
There are boring and dullpersonalities out there and
personally I felt bad for somebecause there were some really
nice people.
But that doesn't get the jobdone.
You've got to have someactivity, some fire, some juice
whatever you want to call it inhow you present yourself and how
you interact with others to beperceived as being responsible,
(16:54):
being overly serious orjudgmental.
All right, how many times we'vetalked about yeah, he's kind of
judgy.
She's kind of judgy there.
Boy, this guy is so serious.
Does he take anything at facevalue?
What's going on here?
It's not that big of a deal.
So try to avoid those types ofappearances Inability to take
risks or try new things.
(17:14):
Again, trying to play it safeCan't do that.
As a leader, you've got tostick your neck out Reasonable
right, reasonable risk butyou've got to take risks.
You've got to try new things.
You're supposed to bring in newprocesses, new creative ideas,
so you're going to have to trynew things.
You can't sit with what's beenthere forever and ever.
You're not going to get anyprocess improvement that way.
And then, finally, lack ofspontaneity or flexibility.
(17:38):
You've got to be willing tojust take off right.
You see something, let's go 90%.
We say, if you're 90% there,just go with it right and
demonstrate that flexibility.
Well, I know we've always doneit like this, but why don't we
try Janie's idea and go thisdirection and be willing to, as
a leader, do something different, john.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
So, again, to try to describe what a responsible
person is and what does it meanto be a responsible leader just
to reinforce some of the thingsthat came from this writing
exercise, especially when I wasin healthcare and with the
(18:27):
concept that was always in theback of my mind that, no matter
what I did in my job, if I'm notkeeping the patient in mind,
and that they're in the mostvulnerable position sitting in a
hospital bed, we are dependentupon giving them the safest and
the most comfortable environmentfor them to heal as possible.
(18:49):
And, trust me, as I say this, Ican feel that sense of doing
the best you can and notaccepting.
You know, that's thatperfectionism that you had to
stop, because we are human.
You can only take it so far,but it was setting that bar so
high.
I think that the line thatkeeps on rolling in my head
(19:10):
every time I say this issomebody was teaching the
concept of taking responsibility, and it was in the Six Sigma
environment and how it had to bethe best you can produce.
And their example was well,let's pretend for a second that
we're talking about a procedure,that you're in charge of babies
(19:31):
at a nursery, and how manyerrors are you allowed, meaning,
how many babies can you drop?
Well, if you've got any number,it's not acceptable.
It is a zero requirement.
You don't drop babies.
And that's what the teacher wastrying to get across.
That care for making a productshould have that kind of sense
(19:55):
of not accepting errors and awonderful kind of teaching
moment, moment, difficulty,delegating tasks or trusting
others.
I think the difficulty has cometo me whenever I gave that trust
and it was basically notrespected and that individual
(20:18):
usually ended up being fired.
Because that was myresponsibility giving them the
trust, giving them all the toolsto be successful, but then they
don't.
They don't get a free pass.
They have to be responsible fortheir results at taking 100%
responsibility for what I do,but you have to take 100%
responsibility for what you do.
When that delegation or thattrust is violated, that's when
(20:42):
those numbers start to change,is violated.
That's when those numbers startto change, being viewed as
being uptight or inflexible ortoo direct, guilty.
I have been told that I am fartoo direct and I should be
careful when I apply those kindof direct conversations.
I think the biggest problemthat I had with being too direct
(21:03):
is when we were in an emergencyor something that had happened
on the site and action wasrequired.
There wasn't that opportunityto be politically wise, there
was the responsibility to actand get results, and that
usually was the time that Iwould get in trouble and they
would talk to me after.
But when I kind of pressed themI have the skill set I chose
(21:25):
not to use that skill setbecause of the environment that
we were in.
Sometimes people who areresponsible have to do that too.
It's a lot easier to be, youknow, open and exchange of ideas
, but if there's a fire that'sliterally glowing in the
background, that's not the timeto exercise proper English.
(21:46):
You want direction.
And then the other element thatthe writers caught on is that
there's the anxiety when plansdon't work.
The wisdom is to know when it'sgoing awry, having all those
butterflies and then finding away to pull the resources back
together again and come out aplan that works, even though
(22:08):
it's the second attempt.
You can't get everything rightthe first time, but not
accepting that as an excusereorganize, do it again.
The positives of beingresponsible is that it
encourages problem solving.
It builds on trust.
Responsibility also helps withself-discipline and
(22:31):
self-reliance.
Responsibility promotes thesense of purpose and
accomplishment.
Being responsible is beingaccountable for your actions and
your decisions, and also alittle bit of pride that goes
with that, and also a little bitof pride that goes with that.
Being responsible also meansthat you have demonstrated
better time managementapproaches and better
(22:51):
organizational skills.
I can tell you that beingresponsible, you also need to
communicate the positive thingsthat you have done and your
department have done, becausequite often people who are very
responsible aren't intopromoting.
It's a different skill set, butyou still need to do that in
order to be helpful for yourdepartment, not just yourself.
(23:13):
And it helps to be able tounderstand the skill sets of
prioritizing tasks and defininggoals effectively.
I have found where I was theweakest is when I was giving
goals and I would not be direct.
Uh, define the goals to be veryprecise and I know I just
talked about being too directbut sometimes goals, if you're,
(23:36):
if you're not being effective intrying to communicate what
you're looking for for an endresult, you're not going to get
that end result.
So the clearer a goal isdefined, the better you're going
to get as a result.
Greg, I think you have a fewideas on what that sounds like.
I do.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
John, Thank you.
So let's talk a little bitabout verbal expressions of the
responsible individual.
There are several of them.
I actually call them actionstatements because I think
that's what they really are.
I will fulfill my commitments.
I will right.
I sign on the dotted line.
I'm going to do what I said Iwas going to do.
I will own up to my mistakes.
(24:18):
We've been talking about thattoday.
If I made a mistake, I'm notgoing to try to blame somebody
else, point the finger atsomeone else.
I'm going to own up to it andalso help look for a solution.
I will be organized andprepared.
That's on me.
I will take the time to makesure that happens.
I am accountable for my actionsNot my assistant, not someone
(24:40):
that reports to me, not my bossbut I am accountable for my
actions.
I will follow through on mypromises Very close to
fulfilling my commitments.
It just means that if you sayit, it should happen.
There's no question about that.
If you make a promise we're nottalking about pinky promises
here In the business situationif you make a promise, you need
(25:01):
to deliver on that promise.
I will be reliable andtrustworthy and if you want the
team to be able to really worksuccessfully and effectively.
They got to know that they cantrust you and you've got to be
reliable.
I will prioritize my duties andresponsibilities.
That's no one else'sresponsibility, that's mine.
I prioritize what I need to doto help the group, the goal, the
(25:25):
objective, make it successfuland all the responsibilities
that come with that.
Here's a simple one I will takecare of it.
Right, that's me stating anaction that's going to happen.
As a leader, as a responsiblehuman being, I will take care of
it.
It's done, Got that.
I will be proactive inaddressing issues.
(25:46):
What are we saying here?
You're going to be lookingahead and trying to ward off bad
things by being vigilant andcoming up with ideas to keep
things on the straight andnarrow path that you're trying
to get them on, John.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
So, being that this is a software designed for
people who are writing.
They were talking aboutcharacters that show that sense
of responsibility, like Frodofrom the Lord of the Rings and
then probably the last one isHermione Granger from the Harry
(26:22):
Potter series.
All these characters showedthat they had a sense of
responsibility.
Again, I just thought that thiswas a great time to step back
and talk about the pro-writingaid team, which they define
themselves as the grammar gurus.
It's a wonderful softwareprogram.
They have a free, limitedservice.
(26:42):
Then they have two otherproducts a premium a wonderful
software programs.
They have a free, uh uh,limited service.
Then they have two otherproducts a premium and a premium
pro.
I I would strongly suggest, ifyou're going to be writing a
book, this seems to be just, uh,an outstanding platform and I I
strongly recommend it.
So I wanted to really takeadvantage of resetting and
(27:06):
talking about responsibility,because I had the opportunity to
work with a team and we createdan audio book.
And what's kind of fun aboutthe audio book?
We had two character actorsthat did my voice and did Dr
Durst's voice, and Dr Durst,again, is the creator of the MBR
Program, management byResponsibility, and it was my
(27:29):
attempt to say how I conductedmyself and how I saw those words
that I used from his book beingthe Cause, how I applied it in
real life and how it actuallyaffected the things that I did
and the way that I accomplishedall the things that I was able
to do within management and sawthat reflected back into people
(27:52):
who reported to me.
So, if you get the opportunity,it's on Amazon, it's in Barnes
Noble.
The audio book is actually donepretty well.
I can tell you that it's atextbook format, so the
beginning of the book is alittle slow because it's
building the story.
You can go through the firstcouple of chapters quickly, but
(28:16):
the heart of the book is likethe third and the fourth chapter
and on, and give it a listen.
I think it's actually somethingthat you might find interesting
and entertaining and helpfulall at the same time, if you
like what you've heard.
Yeah, building your leadershiptoolbox is available on the
(28:40):
Amazon and Barnes and Noble thatI just talked about.
So is the audio book, so is thepaperback, so is the paperback,
so is the hardcover.
It's a lot of different formats, Kind of like the audio book
out of that group.
This podcast is available onwhat you're listening to, thank
you.
It's also available on Appleand Google and Spotify and other
popular formats.
Dr Durst's book and his MBRprogram is available at
(29:05):
successandgrowthacademycom, andif you want to contact us, you
can contact us atwwwauthorjawcom, and the music
has been brought to you by mygrandson.
So we want to hear from you.
Drop us a line, send us a note.
We have changed our platformand we have learned a lot from
(29:27):
your input too what you like tohear from and how we can enhance
your learning process.
So thanks Greg, thanks John.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
As always.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Next time yeah.
Popular Podcasts
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.