A banking story shows why job descriptions alone don't work: leaders need explicit conversations about what they actually expect. When multiple lenders give different answers to the same question, you have an accountability problem that starts at the top.
Look, I use a lot of banking examples because I spend a lot of time with banks. And this was true from one of the banks that I was with this past week. This is the first question when I walked in the door from one of the senior people. I got an accountability problem. After asking that person a number of questions, tell me why you think it's an accountability problem. Do they know exactly what's expected? Well, they should. It's in their job description. That is not what I'm talking about. Have you had the conversation to set the standard of what is expected? If I went to your 5 lenders and asked, What's the expectation? And I get 5 different answers, that means you have not been clear. So let's start with clarity first. And part of that's part of creating the actual environment. Look, as leaders, we have a huge responsibility to create the right environment. We have a huge responsibility to help other people actually recover so that they're successful. We also have a huge responsibility to use our own judgment.
