If you have been a long-time reader of my columns here in the Augusta Business Daily and previously in other venues, you know that one of the attributes I most value in leaders is accountability. That is why I have found a recent episode in our government most disturbing. As you have probably heard by now, national security leaders of our country discussed potentially classified information on “Signal,” an encrypted messaging app, that while much more secure than a cell phone, is not nearly as secure as the government systems which are typically used for such conversations (e.g., Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities or SCIFs). While what they did was clearly wrong and could have potentially cost the lives of American military personnel (thankfully, it did not!), it would have gone unnoticed had one of the leaders not accidentally included a journalist in the exchange of messages. However, while I was troubled by this “rookie mistake,” I have been more troubled by how these leaders and President Trump have responded since it became public. They have demonstrated a negative example of accountability, which should not be repeated and that all leaders of organizations can learn from.
Before we look at the administration’s response to this mistake, let’s first discuss why accountability is so important to an organization and its leaders. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines accountability as an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility for one’s actions. If a leader chooses not to be accountable, it can have a detrimental effect on his or her ability to lead, and a similar negative impact on the organization as a whole. First, trust in the leader will be undermined. If the leader attempts to blame someone else for failure or provides other excuses, the leader is less likely to be trusted by others in the organization. Second, it creates an organizational culture in which participants are afraid to admit mistakes and will tend to cover up problems. In such a culture, the lack of improvement and learning from mistakes tend to stifle both individual and group improvement.
The” Signal Chat Scandal,” as it has come to be known in the media, is a textbook example of not being accountable at the start, and once you have gone down that road, things become even worse. For the most part, members of the Trump administration downplayed the incident and blamed others from the very beginning. However, President Trump initially began down a positive road of accountability by indicating on the day the incident became public, March 24, that a mistake had been made and the administration was investigating it. The members who were on the chat remained silent until that evening, when Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, made the claim that items discussed on the chat were not as confidential as the media had indicated and then began discrediting the journalist who initially reported it (Note: That journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, was the one accidentally included on the Signal chat and also has a reputation of being very anti-President Trump). As the days wore on, Secretary Hegseth, White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, and others in the administration more adamantly downplayed the nature of the information shared on Signal and continued to blame the Democrats and the media for this story.
On March 27, Secretary of State Marco Rubio finally took accountability for the administration, indicating that a “big mistake” was made and reforms will be put in place. While this was like a breath of fresh air of accountability, later that same day, Secretary Hegseth, who shared the most information on the chat downplayed its significance, and President Trump distanced himself from the Signal chat and called its press coverage a “witch hunt.” Rather than emphasizing and supporting Secretary Rubio’s play for accountability, President Trump and Secretary Hegseth continued to deny and deflect. This lack of accountability has allowed this story to linger and is also likely causing the American people to question our national security apparatus.
If the Trump administration had handled this situation with accountability and owned up to its initial mistake, it is likely that this media story would have been over shortly after it began, and there would be more trust and less concern in national security matters. If President Trump or Secretary Hegseth had immediately indicated that a mistake was made and steps were being taken to remedy it, there would be more confidence in leadership.
This is an important lesson for business leaders and all of those leading organizations. If you lead your organization with accountability and make accountability part of your culture, you will be much better off. As leaders, you will be more trusted by those in your organization, and they will be more likely to follow you. For the organization as a whole, if everyone is able to acknowledge their mistakes and address them, your organization will perform better. Accountability may seem difficult in the short run, but it will always be positive in the long run. So, I hope you will do a better job of “signaling” accountability throughout your organization.
