I have recently been listening to Good to Great by Jim Collins.

I wanted to share one of his concepts from the book about taking personal responsibility.

He called it the window vs. the mirror.

He explains that great leaders look out the window when seeking to apportion praise and adulations for things accomplished. Even to the extent of crediting "luck" when not finding something specific out that window to give the credit to.

This is in contrast to those less successful leaders that looked out the window when seeking to apportion blame or to understand how and why things didn’t go there way. Again, these people blamed "luck" (the bad kind in this case) when they couldn’t find a specific cause, person or issue to affix the blame to.

When poor leaders looked for the place to apportion credit or offer the proverbial high-five, they looked in the mirror. They looked to their own egos and accomplishments when looking back at how their company performed.

In stark contrast, the successful leaders looked in the mirror to apportion blame. When asked why something went awry, they blamed themselves and took personal responsibility for those things that didn’t pan out according to plans.

I don’t think you have to be a management guru or notable author to figure out that these principles apply whether you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 company or if you are a homeless beggar on the street.

Next time you have some blame or reward to dole out, just picture a mirror and a window in your mind’s eye before you do so.

Jake