I often hear leaders say to me things like, “I want my staff to take greater responsibility and ownership”, “I need my staff to be accountable”, and “I want to see people take more initiative.”

The question I usually ask in these situations is, " What responsibility and ownership have you given them?” Accountability requires some degree of autonomy, either through control or influence. Want your people to take more ownership and responsibility, to be more accountable? Give them some ownership and responsibility to exercise, provide the necessary support and protection to do so, and watch them take on accountability themselves. Because now their actions and decisions aren’t just about mere compliance, they have purpose.

In these opening days of 2026, I find myself deeply concerned that we're allowing our values of justice, fairness, and mercy to slip away in our public affairs. History shows that when these values erode at the international and national level, they rarely stop there. They seep into institutions, organisations, and workplaces. This is about how power behaves when unchecked, including in organisations.