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Leadership is the world’s scarcest resource today. Not because it’s finite or limited to a chosen few, but because too many of us are waiting for someone else to take charge, someone else to fix what’s broken. Through my decades of experience building companies and guiding organizations through crises, I’ve discovered that real leadership begins with a fundamental shift: taking complete ownership of outcomes, regardless of circumstances.
I learned this lesson profoundly during my time as CEO of Treehouse Group. Shortly after taking the role, we discovered the company had a significant operating capital shortfall. It would have been easy to distance myself and point fingers at others since these problems predated my involvement. Instead, I chose to take full ownership of the situation and bring the entire company into helping solve this sustainably. While this meant confronting hard truths and embarking on a multi-year fix, it was the only path to sustainable solutions.
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Radical honesty and the ownership mindset
Truth and transparency fuel trust. When leaders hide from difficult realities or try to brush problems under the rug, they create a cancer within their organizations. I witnessed this firsthand during my time as Vice President at NQ Mobile. When serious issues emerged requiring board action, I didn’t just identify problems — I came prepared with solutions, having already worked with the SEC, independent auditors and securities counsel to chart a path forward. But rather than confront reality, board members chose to avoid making critical decisions. The company’s eventual collapse wasn’t due to market conditions or business model failure — it stemmed from a lack of transparency and unwillingness to face hard truths.
The antidote is radical honesty — about both successes and failures. I’ve learned that transparency isn’t just a nice-to-have in business. It’s the immune system that allows organizations to identify and eradicate problems before they take hold. It’s the navigation system that keeps companies on course, even in the face of stormy seas. While truth can sometimes be uncomfortable, it is always preferable to letting issues fester in darkness.
This ownership mindset runs counter to human nature. It’s natural to want to avoid blame, to protect ourselves and to wait for the perfect conditions before taking action. But true leadership requires the opposite approach. We must be willing to step into uncertainty and to own not just our successes but our failures and mistakes as well.
Taking responsibility doesn’t mean having all the answers. Often, it means being vulnerable enough to acknowledge what you don’t know while maintaining an unwavering commitment to finding solutions. When I faced major business challenges, my role wasn’t to have every solution but to create an environment where truth could surface and real problems could be addressed.
The impact of ownership and accountabilty
The impact of this approach extends far beyond individual leaders. When you model ownership and accountability, it creates a ripple effect throughout your organization, shaping its culture at every level. People stop hiding problems and start solving them, fostering an environment where transparency and trust replace fear and blame. Instead of waiting for directives or deflecting responsibility, teams become proactive, identifying challenges early and collaborating on solutions. Energy that was once spent on finger-pointing and defensiveness gets redirected to innovation, efficiency and meaningful progress, ultimately driving sustainable growth and resilience.
This shift isn’t about adding more pressure to leaders’ already heavy burdens. Instead, it’s about tapping into a sustainable source of power — one that originates from within rather than relying on external circumstances or fleeting conditions. True leadership isn’t about carrying the weight of every challenge alone; it’s about shifting your mindset from reactive to proactive, from feeling powerless to recognizing your ability to influence outcomes. When you take full responsibility for results, you stop being at the mercy of events and start becoming a force that actively shapes them, driving meaningful change with clarity and purpose.
Related: Are You Sabotaging Your Success by Blaming Others?
From chaos to clarity
I believe we’re facing a critical moment in business and society. The challenges ahead require more than just leaders in title — they require individuals at every level willing to step up, take ownership and exhibit leadership without an assigned title or role. While leadership may be scarce right now, it doesn’t have to stay that way. Each of us has the capacity to become a source of clarity in chaos by making one fundamental choice: to stop waiting for others to lead and start taking responsibility ourselves.
Your oxygen is your responsibility. No one else can breathe for you, and no one else can provide the inner resources you need to lead effectively. The moment you truly embrace this truth is the moment you begin your journey from manager to leader, from spectator to builder, from powerless to empowered. The world needs your leadership now more than ever. The only question is: Are you ready to take ownership?
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