Anyone looking for an interesting essay on the importance of accountability should look no further than this month’s edition of the Harvard Business Review, but be warned—by the time you reach the end, you may, like me, wonder how much the average person wants accountability after all.
The article, “What Ever Happened to Accountability?” is written by Thomas Ricks, a long-time author on military matters. Like many military authors, he laments the passing of the good old days, where expectations were high and standards exacting. Indeed, Ricks gives a fascinating glimpse into the personnel and management approach of Gen. George Marshall, the man who probably did more than anyone else to bring the Allies to victory in World War II. Marshall replaced 600 officers between his ascendancy to be Army chief of staff in 1939 and the outbreak of war in December 1941, and he was quite naked in his belief that younger, more energetic leaders should replace the old.
