Accountability
Owning outcomes and following through on commitments.
Leaders who emphasize accountability make ownership clear, define what success looks like before work starts, and follow up. They hold themselves to the same standard they set for others, and they make the hard calls that come with it.
Quotes are tagged by what they are about, not by who said them. A quote here is not a rating of the speaker.
Don't let anyone tell you that something's impossible. Break down the challenge into simple objectives. Prove them wrong! It's a great motivator!
Verified sourceAddress to the Class of 2022 at the Opening of the Dyson STEAM Building · Watch at 1:32 · Dyson on YouTube
Most importantly, it can never predict the future. None of us can. We have to take our own view and trust our own instincts. You may be just as wrong, but at least it's your failure.
Verified sourceAddress to the Class of 2022 at the Opening of the Dyson STEAM Building · Watch at 7:32 · Dyson on YouTube
Be a 'doer', rather than one of those far too many attention seeking 'grandstanders' who solve nothing.
Verified sourceAddress to the Class of 2022 at the Opening of the Dyson STEAM Building · Watch at 9:55 · Dyson on YouTube
Make it a world of 'doers', never 'grandstanders'.
Verified sourceAddress to the Class of 2022 at the Opening of the Dyson STEAM Building · Watch at 10:36 · Dyson on YouTube
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility—I welcome it.
Verified sourceInaugural Address · Watch at 13:03 · John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
13:03 of 15:11All quotes from this speech →
One of my mentors told me something that I've never forgotten. Run towards the hardest problems.
Verified source2026 Commencement Address at MIT · Watch at 6:40 · Massachusetts Institute of Technology on YouTube
AI can't decide which problems are worth solving. It can't make the hard judgments when the data is not there. It can't take responsibility for the outcomes.
Verified source2026 Commencement Address at MIT · Watch at 11:24 · Massachusetts Institute of Technology on YouTube
A change in the world that seems so clear you're sure someone else will do it. But they won't. You will.
Verified source2017 Commencement Address at Harvard University · Watch at 8:21 · Harvard University on YouTube
If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.
Verified source2014 Commencement Address at the University of Texas at Austin · Watch at 5:22 · UT News, The University of Texas at Austin
5:22 of 19:29All quotes from this speech →
As delivered If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. And by the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.
Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.
Verified source2014 Commencement Address at the University of Texas at Austin · Watch at 5:41 · UT News, The University of Texas at Austin
5:41 of 19:29All quotes from this speech →
As delivered Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that the little things in life matter. If you can't do the little things right, you will never be able to do the big things right.
If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.
Verified source2014 Commencement Address at the University of Texas at Austin · Watch at 6:09 · UT News, The University of Texas at Austin
6:09 of 19:29All quotes from this speech →
So while I will never minimize the costs involved in military action, I am convinced that a failure to act in Libya would have carried a far greater price for America.
SourceAddress on interventions in Libya (March 2011) · via Wikiquote
America's promises do not come with a price tag. We meet our commitments. We bear our burdens. That's one of the reasons why almost every country on Earth sees America as stronger and more respected today than they did eight years ago when I took office.
SourceDNC Address (July 2016) · via Wikiquote
There is probably a perverse pride in my administration... that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who's occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can't be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.
SourceAs quoted in "The Education of President Obama" by Peter Baker in The New York Times Magazine (12 October 2010) · via Wikiquote
I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.
SourceA World that Stands as One (July 2008) · via Wikiquote
Remember that it is the actions, and not the commission, that make the officer, and that there is more expected from him, than the title.
SourceAddress to the Officers of the Virginia Regiment · Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on George Washington's Mount Vernon
It is with pleasure I receive reproof, when reproof is due, because no person can be readier to accuse me, than I am to acknowledge an error, when I am guilty of one; nor more desirous of atoning for a crime, when I am sensible of having committed it.
SourceLetter to Governor Dinwiddie, Aug. 27, 1757 · National Archives on Founders Online
I shall not be deprived ... of a comfort in the worst event, if I retain a consciousness of having acted to the best of my judgment.
SourceLetter to Colonel Bassett, Jun. 19, 1775 · Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on George Washington's Mount Vernon
Three things prompt men to a regular discharge of their duty in time of action: natural bravery, hope of reward, and fear of punishment.
SourceLetter to the President of Congress, Feb. 9, 1776 · National Archives on Founders Online
It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.
SourceLetter to Harriot Washington · National Archives on Founders Online
System in all things is the soul of business. To deliberate maturely, & execute promptly is the way to conduct it to advantage. With me, it has always been a maxim, rather to let my designs appear from my works, than by my expressions.
SourceLetter to James Anderson · National Archives on Founders Online
I learned early that being CEO is not about power, but the responsibility that comes with keeping the company alive, and that honesty and humility can be met with generosity and kindness, even in business.
Source2026 Commencement Address at Carnegie Mellon University · Watch at 5:45 · Carnegie Mellon University on YouTube
It's not that every single thing that happens on Facebook is gonna be good. This is humanity. People use tools for good and bad, but I think that we have a clear responsibility to make sure that the good is amplified and to do everything we can to mitigate the bad.
SourceIn an interview with as quoted in Zuckerberg: The Recode interview (July 18, 2018) · via Wikiquote
Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.
SourceQuoted in Steve Jobs, the Journey Is the Reward (1988) by Jeffrey S. Young · via Wikiquote
For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.
SourcePlayboy interview (1985) · via Wikiquote
The system is that there is no system. That doesn't mean we don't have process. Apple is a very disciplined company, and we have great processes. But that's not what it's about. Process makes you more efficient.
SourceAs quoted in "The Seed of Apple's Innovation" in BusinessWeek (12 October 2004) · via Wikiquote
When you're a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you're not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You'll know it's there, so you're going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back.
SourcePlayboy interview (1985) · via Wikiquote
It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.
SourceAs quoted in Corporate Survival · via Wikiquote
The price of greatness is responsibility.
SourceThe Second World War (1939–1945) · via Wikiquote
In the course of my life, I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet.
SourceQuoted by Lord Normanbrook in Action This Day: Working With Churchill. Memoirs by Lord Norman Brook (And Others) (1968) · via Wikiquote
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
Don't worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.
I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end... I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me.
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.
It's time to fundamentally change the way that we do business in Washington. To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative. That will demand new thinking and a new sense of responsibility for every dollar that is spent.
We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.
We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That's not leadership. That's not going to happen.
So while an incredible amount of progress has been made, on this fifth anniversary, I wanted to come here and tell the people of this city directly: My administration is going to stand with you - and fight alongside you - until the job is done. Until New Orleans is all the way back, all the way.
Now we're in the midst of not just advocating for change, not just calling for change - we're doing the grinding, sometimes frustrating work of delivering change - inch by inch, day by day.
You know, one of the things I think you understand as president is you're held responsible for everything, but you don't always have control of everything, right?
I'm no longer just a candidate. I'm the President. I know what it means to send young Americans into battle, for I have held in my arms the mothers and fathers of those who didn't return. I've shared the pain of families who've lost their homes, and the frustration of workers who've lost their jobs.
It's one of the few regrets of my presidency - that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better. There's no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I'll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office.
It's not all about talent. It's about dependability, consistency, and being able to improve. If you work hard and you're coachable, and you understand what you need to do, you can improve.
What we can control is our performance and our execution, and that's what we're going to focus on.
There's no medals for trying. This isn't like eighth grade where everybody gets a trophy. We are in a professional sport, and it is competitive to win. That's what we do.
My job as a coach is to make good decisions. It's not to go out there and block or tackle.
You have to go with the person who you have the most confidence in, the most consistent. And if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but I'm going down with that person.
In business, the idea of measuring what you are doing, picking the measurements that count like customer satisfaction and performance... you thrive on that.
Helping convene global stakeholders to establish a set of measurable, actionable and consensus-built goals focused on extreme poverty is invaluable.
I have been struck again and again by how important measurement is to improving the human condition.
I am results-oriented.
In poor countries, we still need better ways to measure the effectiveness of the many government workers providing health services. They are the crucial link bringing tools such as vaccines and education to the people who need them most. How well trained are they? Are they showing up to work?
Eradications are special. Zero is a magic number. You either do what it takes to get to zero and you're glad you did it; or you get close, give up and it goes back to where it was before, in which case you wasted all that credibility, activity, money that could have been applied to other things.
You have to have a certain realism that government is a pretty blunt instrument, and without the constant attention of highly qualified people with the right metrics, it will fall into not doing things very well.
I always invest my own money in the companies that I create. I don't believe in the whole thing of just using other people's money. I don't think that's right. I'm not going to ask other people to invest in something if I'm not prepared to do so myself.
I say something, and then it usually happens. Maybe not on schedule, but it usually happens.
I don't spend my time pontificating about high-concept things; I spend my time solving engineering and manufacturing problems.
I have made the mistaken assumption - and I will attempt to be better at this - of thinking that because somebody is on Twitter and is attacking me that it is open season. And that is my mistake.
The X is an amazing car, but we kind of got carried away with the art and technology. Obviously, you want great art. You want great technology. But we did get a little distracted from our mission, which was to advance the cause of electric vehicles. And it probably delayed us a little bit with the Model 3 as well.
A director makes 100 decisions an hour. Students ask me how you know how to make the right decision, and I say to them, 'If you don't know how to make the right decision, you're not a director.'
Part of the issue of achievement is to be able to set realistic goals, but that's one of the hardest things to do because you don't always know exactly where you're going, and you shouldn't.
I realized why directors are such horrible people - in a way - because you want things to be right, and people will just not listen to you, and there is no time to be nice to people, no time to be delicate.
Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.
You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.
Don't find fault, find a remedy.
Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.
Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.
I'm humble 'cause I think many years ago people say, 'Well, Alibaba's terrible company'. And I know we were not that terrible. We're pretty good; we're better than people thought. But today, when people have a high expectation on you, and I start to worry and nervous because we are not good yet.
As a company, we have to be very transparent. We are in a business very related to finance, and I want this company to last long, and I want this company to be audited by everyone.
A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.
We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It's our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.
If you don't understand the details of your business you are going to fail.
The special ops guys and the firefighters around the world have this great phrase. They say, 'Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast,' and that is true. Everything I've accomplished in my life has been because of that attitude.
Our motto at Blue Origin is 'Gradatim Ferociter': 'Step by Step, Ferociously.'
The thing that motivates me is a very common form of motivation. And that is, with other folks counting on me, it's so easy to be motivated.
It is very difficult to get people to focus on the most important things when you're in boom times.
I always say, decisions I make, I live with them. There's always ways you can correct them or ways you can do them better. At the end of the day, I live with them.
Every night on the court I give my all, and if I'm not giving 100 percent, I criticize myself.
Once you get on the playing field it's not about whether you're liked or not liked. All that matters is to play at a high level and do whatever it takes to help your team win. That's what it's about.
I hate letting my teammates down. I know I'm not going to make every shot. Sometimes I try to make the right play, and if it results in a loss, I feel awful. I don't feel awful because I have to answer questions about it. I feel awful in that locker room because I could have done something more to help my teammates win.
Sweat equity is the most valuable equity there is. Know your business and industry better than anyone else in the world. Love what you do or don't do it.
I know that I'm not perfect. While we all have our prejudices and bigotries, we have to learn that it's an issue that we have to control, that it's part of my responsibility as an entrepreneur to try to solve it, not just to kick the problem down the road.
If you can't admit a failure, you're not an entrepreneur. You are not a good business person. There's nothing brilliant about what you are doing.
I think a simple rule of business is, if you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress.
Move fast with stable infrastructure.
When I was in college I did a lot of stupid things and I don't want to make an excuse for that. Some of the things that people accuse me of are true, some of them aren't. There are pranks, IMs.
It's really easy to have a nice philosophy about openness, but moving the world in that direction is a different thing. It requires both understanding where you want to go and being pragmatic about getting there.
In retrospect, I do think it's fair to say that we were overly idealistic and focused on more of the good parts of what connecting people and giving people a voice can bring.
Founding a company is hard. Most of it isn't smooth. You'll have to make very hard decisions. You have to fire a few people. Therefore, if you don't believe in your mission, giving up is easy. The majority of founders give up. But the best founders don't give up.
We have a rule that if you check in code, you have to maintain it. So I mostly code on the side. I don't check in code anymore.
The biggest mistake we made as a company was betting too much on HTML5.
Frankly, I think that the news industry is critically important because it points out things and surfaces truths that can often be uncomfortable. I think that that's working, and the spotlight has been pointed on things that we have a responsibility to do better, and I accept that.
The community - more than two billion people use our products, and we get that, with that, a lot of people are using that for a lot of good, but we also have a responsibility to mitigate the darker things that people are gonna try to do.
I always kind of see how I want things to be better, and I'm generally not happy with how things are or the level of service that we're providing for people or the quality of the teams that we built. But if you look at this objectively, we're doing so well on so many of these things. I think it's important to have gratitude for that.
I think it's very important that whatever you're trying to make or sell, or teach has to be basically good. A bad product and you know what? You won't be here in ten years.
I think baking cookies is equal to Queen Victoria running an empire. There's no difference in how seriously you take the job, how seriously you approach your whole life.
I have proven that being a perfectionist can be profitable and admirable when creating content across the board: in television, books, newspapers, radio, videos.
Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.
You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.
You have competition every day because you set such high standards for yourself that you have to go out every day and live up to that.
Ultimately, if you can say that I'm a bad owner and we're winning championships, I can live with that. But if we're not making the playoffs and we're spending and losing money, then I have to look in the mirror and say maybe I'm not taking the necessary steps to doing what it takes to run an organization.
Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.
You are responsible for the energy that you create for yourself, and you're responsible for the energy that you bring to others.
I don't think of myself as a poor deprived ghetto girl who made good. I think of myself as somebody who from an early age knew I was responsible for myself, and I had to make good.
My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you I the best place for the next moment.
Even if you flippin' fries at McDonald's, if you are excellent, everybody wants to be in your line.
An exceptional company is the one that gets all the little details right. And the people out on the front line, they know when things are not going right, and they know when things need to be improved. And if you listen to them, you can soon improve all those niggly things which turns an average company into an exceptional company.
All you have in business is your reputation - so it's very important that you keep your word.
If you want to be more productive, then start at the start: get there on time. Whether it is a meeting, a flight, an appointment or a date, it's important to ensure you are there when you say you will be there. This may feel like an old-fashioned tip to give, but it has served me well for five decades in business.
In business, if you realize you've made a bad decision, you change it.
An important priority for me is a business must get their own house in order. Be or become an agent of positive change in your own enterprise and adopt responsible practices to eliminate the risks that often lie at the root of inequality and poverty.
There is no way I would ask others to go on a Virgin Galactic flight if I didn't feel it was safe enough for myself.
Entrepreneurs are natural problem-solvers, which means that we always have ideas for new businesses popping into our heads. Having a lot of options is great, but sometimes it can be hard to focus on one when you are keen to move onto the next.
I want everyone inside of Microsoft to take that responsibility. This is not about top-line growth. This is not about bottom-line growth. This is about us individually having a growth mindset.
One lesson learned is you've got to finish the scenario with excellence. You just cannot stop. You have to complete this, and I think that's where Apple has taught us all what experience excellence means in the creation of categories.
Most people have a very strong sense of organizational ownership, but I think what people have to own is an innovation agenda, and everything is shared in terms of the implementation.
I want people on the front line to be proud of what they're doing and give themselves permission to finish things in ways that they can be proud of.
I'm a perfectionist. I'm pretty much insatiable. I feel there's so many things I can improve on.
There's a reason that I have confidence out there, and it's about how I prepare for games and for series and seasons and whatnot, so we've got to stick with that kind of thought process.
I know what I do for my team and what my teammates expect of me on both ends of the floor.
Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.
We don't get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? So this is what we've chosen to do with our life.
Our DNA is as a consumer company - for that individual customer who's voting thumbs up or thumbs down. That's who we think about. And we think that our job is to take responsibility for the complete user experience. And if it's not up to par, it's our fault, plain and simply.
We think the Mac will sell zillions, but we didn't build the Mac for anybody else. We built it for ourselves. We were the group of people who were going to judge whether it was great or not. We weren't going to go out and do market research. We just wanted to build the best thing we could build.
This is what customers pay us for - to sweat all these details so it's easy and pleasant for them to use our computers. We're supposed to be really good at this. That doesn't mean we don't listen to customers, but it's hard for them to tell you what they want when they've never seen anything remotely like it.
It's not about charisma and personality, it's about results and products and those very bedrock things that are why people at Apple and outside of Apple are getting more excited about the company and what Apple stands for and what its potential is to contribute to the industry.
To turn really interesting ideas and fledgling technologies into a company that can continue to innovate for years, it requires a lot of disciplines.
We've demonstrated a strong track record of being very disciplined with the use of our cash. We don't let it burn a hole in our pocket, we don't allow it to motivate us to do stupid acquisitions. And so I think that we'd like to continue to keep our powder dry, because we do feel that there are one or more strategic opportunities in the future.
All presidents swear an oath to the Constitution to keep this country united, and when the country fell apart, Lincoln had to put it back together again, with a lot of help. But he bore total responsibility.
I think we need to take responsibility for the things we put on this planet, and also take responsibility for the things we take off the planet. We need to have limiters on how far we allow ourselves to go - ethical, moral limiters.
Making a movie and not directing the little moments is like drinking a soda and leaving the little slurp puddle for someone else.
The value of an idea lies in the using of it.
Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing.
You can only do so many things great, and you should cast aside everything else.
I learned that focus is key. Not just in your running a company, but in your personal life as well.
We are constantly auditing our supply chain. Making sure that safety standards are - are, you know, are the highest. We're making sure that working conditions are the highest.
It's hard to edit. It's hard to stay focused. And yet, we know we'll only do our best work if we stay focused. And so, you know, the hardest decisions we made are all the things not to work on, frankly.
We have never said that we're perfect. We've said that we seek that. But we sometimes fall short.
Apple has a culture of excellence that is, I think, so unique and so special. I'm not going to witness or permit the change of it.
Our goal has never been to make the most. It's always been to make the best.
The most important thing is, Do you have the courage to admit that you're wrong? And do you change? The most important thing to me as a CEO is that we keep the courage.
When you're an engineer, you want to analyze things a lot. But if you believe that the most important data points are people, then you have to make conclusions in relatively short order. Because you want to push the people who are doing great. And you want to either develop the people who are not or, in a worst case, they need to be somewhere else.
When you're one of the leaders of the team, there are no days off.
My job is to play quarterback, and I'm going to do that the best way I know how, because I owe that to my teammates regardless of who is out there on the field with me.
You have to believe in your process. You have to believe in the things that you are doing to help the team win. I think you have to take the good with the bad.
I think the great part about what I do is that there's a scoreboard. At the end of every week, you know how you did. You know how well you prepared. You know whether you executed your game plan. There's a tangible score.
If you're a quarterback, you want everything on your shoulders. You want to be the one to make the decisions.
I love what I do. I take great pride in what I do. And I can't do something halfway, three-quarters, nine-tenths. If I'm going to do something, I go all the way.
When I work, I work very hard. So I look to work with people who have that level of dedication. And I depend on that from everyone. From the director to my crews that I work with.
Do I make mistakes? Yeah.
The thing about film-making is I give it everything, that's why I work so hard. I always tell young actors to take charge. It's not that hard. Sign your own cheques, be responsible.
Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.
The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.
Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.
Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while... you don't do things right once in a while... you do them right all the time. Winning is habit.
The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.
You don't do things right once in a while. You do things right all the time.
Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will be judged by only one thing-the result.
There is something good in men that really yearn for discipline.
The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
Predicting rain doesn't count. Building arks does.
I bought a company in the mid-'90s called Dexter Shoe and paid $400 million for it. And it went to zero. And I gave about $400 million worth of Berkshire stock, which is probably now worth $400 billion. But I've made lots of dumb decisions. That's part of the game.
It is no use saying, 'We are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.
Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong - these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.
I am easily satisfied with the very best.
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