When Things Aren’t Going Well, Will You Accept Blame?

In a recent Shepard Letter, I wrote about the concept of giving recognition to the people who deserve it. Someone being recognized for what they bring to the organization is often overlooked. That’s a shame. People need to be recognized for their contribution to the team’s success. One of our faithful readers, Drew Smith, responded to the article and shared that he was reading a biography about the 34th President of the United States, Dwight Eisenhower, who was known for “pushing praise down and blame up—to himself.”
This is an interesting concept. The idea of praising people for the good job they do is powerful. It’s quite easy and comfortable to share praise, but what about the concept of blame? For most, that is a difficult topic. But Eisenhower was willing to take the blame, even for something that could be considered out of his control. There is a famous speech