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Motivation

Fault And Responsibility: Lessons From Ariane Simone And Will Smith

Will Smith has joined Instagram and I’m not disappointed. He posts funny videos, cool pictures of his travels, and gives mini motivational talks. One of his posts was about the difference between fault and responsibility. His words immediately sent me back to when Ariane Simone was on Facebook Live a year ago telling the story of her encounter with a rat while dining outdoors at a restaurant. And I mean a rat like NIMH not a snitch. She goes into explaining how although it wasn’t the waiter’s fault that a rat had scurried across her feet, but the restaurant still needed to take responsibility and rectify the situation. Pause. Please note that even though she was outdoors, rats shouldn’t be drawn to the venue and at first sight of rat the venue needs to make sure Nicodemus and the other rats of NIMH don’t come closer.

Anyway, many things in life may not be our fault directly however the responsibility to do something may be ours. We can apply this to life, business, and relationships. Example, it may not be your fault that your subordinate is late to work, but it’s your responsibility to figure out why someone under your watch can’t get to work on time. Otherwise, their tardiness becomes a reflection of your leadership skills. 

In my personal life, I can see how several things may not have been my fault, but the responsibility to handle the situation was mine. Reflecting on past events I can see how I did not take responsibility. While I didn’t place the blame on the others I didn’t turn the spotlight on myself to figure out how I could do better with what I had been given. What transpired afterwards is all my fault. Now I have the blame and the responsibility. 

As it pertains to business I feel the same way. And as a business woman, the fault AND the responsibility can be mine depending on the situation. Do you know how many times it was my fault that a website was not working? Several times and I had to take the responsibility too. 

If we take an objective look at our lives we can see the difference between fault and responsibility. We can see retrospectively when things were our fault or our responsibility. How did we react? Now that we know the difference how can we be better? Think about it.