A is for Accountability

In life and in work, I am a big believer in under-promising and over-delivering. When I worked in account management, I was the fixer. Give me the surliest, most difficult or frustrated unhappy clients and within six months, they were usually very pleased and back on track. Why?

Very simply stated, I was accountable for my actions, and for the work of our company. I put a human face on our work, reached out, built relationships and created a rapport with my clients and did my job to the best of my abilities. If something went wrong, I was then able to tell them we would fix it quickly, and we did. If I promised something by 5:00 on Wednesday, they got it by 4:55. They began to trust us, and often times the account would grow.

I don't profess that I was always able to win over every unhappy client. However, it never fails to shock me how rare personal accountability is in the business world, in customer service and in life. When things go wrong, everyone is always quick to point the finger and blame someone else, which accomplishes nothing.

As an individual, you can't always solve every problem on your own. Yet it can be disarmingly refreshing to hear a simple "Your right, I'm sorry, let me take care of this for you," and then to actually see the person follow through.