Ed Macha is the CEO of Reliable Controls.
Let’s be honest. In leadership, you don’t get to share the glory nor do you get to share the blame—it’s all on you. If an entrepreneur can’t handle that, they probably aren’t ready for a leadership role. After more than 25 years at the helm of the same company, I can tell you leadership is not glamorous and is not for everyone. In fact, an aspiring leader is lost before they even start if they think it’s only about titles and perks. It is about ownership. Full stop. You show up when things get tough and take the hit when things go wrong. You need to be ready to own every outcome—good and bad—before you step up.
The biggest myth I hear from leadership programs is “shared responsibility.” It sounds noble—everyone carries the load, everyone is accountable—but in the real world, the buck stops with the leader. Spread responsibility too thin and it evaporates. No one owns it, and failure creeps in like a slow rot. Leadership is about one thing: standing tall and saying, “I own this.”
Here’s how to accomplish this:
1. Make the tough calls.
It may be a bitter pill for many, but leadership isn’t about making people like you. The capacity and willingness to make unpopular decisions is critical because your job is to move things forward, not to be everyone’s friend.
A young leader I once worked with was running a multi-billion-dollar project. This guy did not sit in meetings all day. He walked the site after hours, got into the trenches and owned every decision. Decisive and direct. But he also knew how to give personal praise where it was deserved. That’s real leadership.
Today, he’s a world-renowned leader and sits on the boards of many global companies. He didn’t make decisions to please others—he made decisions to get results. Steve Jobs put it perfectly: “If you want to make everyone happy, don’t be a leader, sell ice cream.” Your team won’t rally behind someone who waffles. They are much more likely to follow conviction, strength and clear direction.
Don’t chase popularity—chase progress.
2. Communicate directly.
Ambiguity is a death sentence for leadership. People need to know precisely where they stand, what’s expected of them and where the ship is headed. If you leave room for doubt, you leave room for failure.
The best leaders I have seen are direct. No sugar-coating. No gray areas. Just clear, honest communication. It builds trust because your team knows you are not wasting their time or leaving them guessing.
The same gentleman from that multi-billion-dollar project was a master of this. His team trusted him because he was never vague about the stakes or the expectations. Peter Drucker nailed it: “The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.” Great leaders anticipate concerns and address them head-on.
Be clear, be direct and build trust through transparency.
3. Delegate tasks, not responsibility.
Delegation is critical, but while you can delegate tasks, you can’t delegate responsibility. The moment a leader passes off their core responsibilities, they have stopped leading. It’s called passing the buck. Tasks? Sure, delegate those. But the outcome? That’s yours.
I have watched leaders do this over and over. They think they are empowering their teams by offloading responsibility. What actually happens? No one feels accountable, projects drift and teams lose direction.
As Winston Churchill is credited with saying: “The price of greatness is responsibility.” If you want to lead, you can’t shift blame. If it happened under your watch, it’s yours to fix. Leaders who deflect responsibility lose the trust of their teams.
Fix the problem, own the solution and keep moving.
4. Reject shared responsibility.
Shared responsibility is a principle that gets pushed in leadership courses all the time. Everyone shares the load, and everyone is accountable. It sounds ideal. In practice, it can be a bit of a mess. Shared responsibility can lead to no one feeling accountable, and that’s when things fall apart.
Yes, the best leaders build strong, collaborative teams. They leverage ideas and strengths from across the board. But accountability? That’s a different story. When your team knows their role, they contribute more effectively. The leader owns the win, and the leader owns the loss. If responsibility is diluted across too many hands, it can result in confusion and failure. Every task and decision needs an owner.
Collaboration is key, but accountability must always rest with the leader.
Leaders Step Up
Shared responsibility and the idea that everyone’s voice carries the same weight is idealistic. What sounds great in a meeting or program often doesn’t fly in the real world. Real leadership is stepping up and taking responsibility.
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