Accountability…A Tale of Two Leaders

Last week, Mitsubishi Motors announced that they cheated on fuel-economy standards. They admitted that this cheating affects about 620,000 cars but that further investigation might bring those numbers up to the millions.

Sound familiar? Last October, I published two blogs about Volkswagen doing exactly the same thing. Only this time, there is a notable difference…

CEO Martin Winterkorn of Volkswagen responded to the news of his company’s massive transgressions by saying he was sorry but quickly added “I am not aware of any wrongdoing on my part”. He acted as if someone else was in charge and accountable for running the company.

Who me? Do anything wrong? It was the employees’ fault…

Now we have the example of Tetsuro Aikawa, President of Mitsubishi Motors. In announcing his company’s wrongdoing, he was quick to say “we believe this manipulation was deliberate” and called it “shameful.” Then, in front of the world’s cameras, he bowed deeply in apology and acceptance of responsibility for what his company had done.

The best leaders create a culture that emphatically lets employees know that cheating is not tolerated. That lying is not tolerated—not to regulators, not to your own customers, not to anyone.

The leaders of both Mitsubishi Motors and Volkswagen failed the culture test. Their people believed that cheating is fine if it helps cut costs, pleases regulators, and sells more cars.

Another test for leaders is how they accept responsibility for what happens in their company, particularly the negative things. The best leaders accept full responsibility for any wrongdoing that takes place and for anything that goes awry on their watch. This is a test that Mr. Winterkorn failed miserably and Mr. Aikawa aced.

When things are going well, the company is growing, and profit margins are increasing, leaders find it easy to accept responsibility. It’s fun to listen to the applause and rake in the big bonus. But when things aren’t going so well, most find it very difficult to accept responsibility…so they don’t. They blame their employees or events beyond their control.

But the best leaders, the best leaders give all of the credit for the company’s success to their people rather than themselves. And when things go badly, as hard as it may be, they plant responsibility squarely on their own shoulders rather than look for scapegoats.   And they apologize in front of the cameras with shame on their face and a quiver in their voice.