Ethical Musings Concerning Responsibility vs. Accountability

Most of us have heard the expression “The buck stops here” that was coined by former United States President Harry Truman in the 1940’s.

This phrase has been interpreted to mean that the President has to make tough decisions and accept the ultimate responsibility for those decisions. It has carried over into our personal and business lives in various ways; particularly when confronted with tough questions involving ethical choices.

What does it really mean when we hear anyone say I’m responsible versus I’m accountable? Is this really some circuitous route around the ethical compass to avoid saying I screwed up, am guilty, or at fault?

What actually occurs in a person’s mind as he/she grapples with excruciating decisions that require a balanced view of the situation? Do people link being responsible with being accountable or are the two separated from each other like a highly elastic rubber band?

I am sorry to inform you that after some deep thought on these questions, any clear answers have eluded my brainwaves.

This might rightfully disappoint you; and do know I am not offended in any way. How humans rationalize and justify their ethical musings is clearly a mystery.

What I can come up with is that humans are able to compartmentalize their choices, creating an illusion that moral compasses are operational, and the issues grappled with are satisfactorily settled.

Permit me to provide several examples of compartmentalization that are in full play against the background of responsibility and accountability.

In the case of fraudster Bernie Madoff, there was no plea agreement with the Justice Department. He simply pleaded guilty to all the charges admitting remorse for his criminal acts.

At the same time, he conveyed to prosecutors that he had not personally traded on any of his client accounts since the early 1990’s. Madoff also communicated that he was solely in charge of his operation and responsible for the results.

Madoff at the time of his sentencing was still defiant and uncooperative regarding others involved in the Ponzi scheme. He refused to tell all he knew or identify other accomplices who perpetuated the massive fraud.

His conduct was clearly illegal and where his ethical lines are drawn is still anyone’s best guess to date.

Nazi officer and Adolph Hitler’s close friend and Minister of Armaments/War Production, Albert Speer, provides us with a different if not equally puzzling view of compartmentalization.

Throughout World War II, Speer had directed an “armaments miracle,” doubling Hitler’s production orders and prolonging the German war effort while under relentless Allied air attacks. He did this through administrative genius and by exploiting millions of slave laborers who were starved and worked to death in his factories.

When the infamous Nuremberg tribunals commenced in November 1945, Speer and some twenty plus German leaders were accused of mass crimes against humanity. Interestingly, he was the only leader who attempted to cooperate with the authorities from multiple nations.

Speer did apologize to the Court but insisted he had no knowledge of the Holocaust. He claimed responsibility for the slave labor, was blameable, but had no knowledge of the crimes.

Portraying himself as a good Nazi, Speer, even claimed that he had tried to kill Adolf Hitler two years earlier by dropping a poison gas canister into an air intake in his bunker.

As flawed humans, we all in different ways wrestle with how to be responsible and accountable. We struggle to find truth that can be deeply suppressed into deep compartmental caves of rationalization and justification.

It’s simply called life.

Please remember this my friends: respect, consideration, and courtesy matter a lot. Treat others fairly, decently, and equally.

Consult your moral compasses every chance you get and monitor your progress.

You know the battle cry: do your best each day. No one can ask more or less from any of us.

All the best/blessings, Mark