The Age of Accountability: Everybody Expects it, No one wants to give it

One of the skills that I solidified during my time in the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) is personal accountability. For a system such as the army to work successfully, personal accountability of each soldier has to be unscathed. It takes only ONE person that falls asleep on guard for the whole platoon to be exposed to an attack. In the military, one’s actions not only directly affect oneself but they affect the whole team.

Exiting the army mindset, the concept of life and death loses its immediate relevance and becomes pretty abstract in relation to personal accountability in daily life. The consequences of not upholding accountability do not feel so dire as to people dying. However, not upholding your personal accountability can result in loss of livelihood (to yourself or to others), loss of relationships, and eventually the crumbling of societal structure.

Brought on by the recent economic climate and Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, the word “accountability” has been popping off. Looking to point fingers, many people (especially those in positions of power) need someone to blame. However, heightened inflation can’t exclusively be tied to outside geopolitical factors as much as to the Fed’s monetary policies. And, declining revenue and mass layoffs shouldn’t be scapegoated to the market as much as to the CEOs not being able to implement sustainable structures in place that allows them to adapt to changing environments.

Vice versa, employees also need to understand that it’s a free market and if they are not on the edge with skill sets complimentary to new tech like AI and strong work ethics they can not rely on an employer to save them. Optimally, a balance is needed between the two but expecting accountability from the systems we are in is important as much as upholding our own accountability for them to work.

That is not to oversimplify contextual circumstances, but, at the end of the day, there is only so much we can do regarding events that are outside of our control apart from taking personal accountability. As a person who makes up part of the system and participates in it, accountability has to start with the self. That means living life with honesty/integrity, and taking ownership of one’s actions because they have a direct effect on those around you.

Luckily, due to increased transparency via technological and cultural change, people’s accountability, or lack of, is rising to the surface. The whole premise and vision of blockchain technology, for example, is to be able to see data, on-chain, without the need of a third party intermediary. So when fraud happens like in the case of Sam Bankman-Fried & FTX there's clear evidence of his fraudulent activities displayed on-chain. Additionally, a cultural shift towards accountability is happening because truth is coming out. People are speaking out, corruption is being exposed (i.e. Twitter files !) and the trending #futureofwork is holding companies responsible to a certain degree of fairness and treatment to employees as unfair practices are being exposed.

Back to a more personal note, another lesson I learned in the IDF was never leaving a space messier than when finding it. In fact, one should leave it in better shape. In this case it talks about the physically of a space, but you can take this lesson and imply it to your relationships. Personal accountability can extend even to those around us. If you see someone struggling and you might be able to help, it is your personal accountability to extend a hand.

I like that accountability is trending (followed by transparency). It means that more people will start to realize that their actions have consequences. To be part of the shift towards accountability, start by asking yourself: What steps am I taking to achieve doing the things I am saying I am going to do? If there are changes in my plans, am I clearly communicating these to the current consensus in which it could have an effect on? And most importantly, in what standards am I choosing to uphold my values through my actions?

Generally excited by the shift towards the age of accountability. It is a net positive to have stronger workers, leaders, and systems that would be actually upheld to higher standards of morals and truth.