How to Stop Passing the Blame Buck Playing the blame game is out. More CEOs are taking responsibility for their actions--and building stronger businesses as a result.
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Claim credit for anything good that happens, and pass the blame to others. It's been standard operating procedure in politics and business for decades.
But a growing number of CEOs seem to be sorry when something is wrong. Cisco Systems' CEO, John Chambers, apologized to service providers for not catering to their needs. Citigroup's CEO, Charles Prince, traveled to Japan last fall and bowed in public to show regret for the company's regulatory wrongdoings. Meanwhile, Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric, has instituted corporate citizenship reports and has said, "If you want to be a great company today, you have to be a good company."
The celebrity CEO is turning into the credibility CEO, says Leslie Gaines-Ross, who researches reputation recovery as chief knowledge and research officer for consulting firm Burson-Marsteller in New York City. "The big trend is [toward] all the CEO apologies," she says. "The words 'we deeply regret' seem to be everywhere."
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