“The foundation of maturity: Just because it’s not your fault doesn’t mean it’s not your responsibility.” – from Excellent Advice for Living

I’ve worked with a lot of people who are growing and learning into something new. This could be with my kids, kids I coach, or people at work. Often when we’re learning, or we attempt something in our jobs, we make mistakes. Sometimes those aren’t our fault, as some external factor might impact our effort.

However.

I’m still responsible for things. If someone doesn’t produce a good query and slows the system down, I still might be responsible if it’s the system I am managing. If a junior DBA doesn’t check somethings clients complaint to the lead DBA (me), I am likely still responsible.

I find people often conflate these things together. You might be both at fault and responsible, but in my mind, you should feel responsibility more often than you look at fault (or blame). If someone on my team messes up, it’s often not my fault, but I still feel responsibility. After all, we’re a team. That’s what a team does.

Don’t avoid responsibility. In fact, take on a bit more than others might want. Don’t be responsible for everything, but just a bit more than others would. It’s great advice that helps you stand out, and often, succeed.

I’ve been posting New Words on Fridays from a book I was reading, however, a friend thought they were a little depressing. They should be as they are obscure sorrows. I like them because they make me think.

To counter-balance those, I’m adding in thoughts on advice, mostly from Kevin Kelley’s book. You can read all these posts under the advice tag.