Step Up and Be Accountable

Hey all,

Thinking about class and our discussions last week, I realized I forgot something. A value that is very important to me is accountability. This particular value was held in high esteem by a lot of other people, and I am a little angry with myself for forgetting to include it.

Basically, accountabilty is a lot of things: following through with your commitments, being reliable, dependent, and diligent, and finally, being able to own up to mistakes. In today's society, it's all about competition and perfection, and mistakes are not allowed. And in this dog eat dog world, it takes some courage to admit that something's wrong. A prime example is Toyota. If you have been keeping up with the news for the past year or so than you would know that Toyota had to recall 72,000ish automobiles because of issues with the accelerator sticking. But instead of pitching a fit, and falling behind the competition, Toyota embraced the challenge. Repairs were made by both Toyota and dealers to affected models, and the dent in Toyota sales was significantly diminished. Also a publicity campaign was launched in order to clear the air and to retain customer loyalty. Check it out:

Another cool thing about Toyota is their philosophy. The company works around five basic, but necessary principles that obviously help shape their success. (If you couldn't tell, Toyota is a Japanese company, so some of these principles are in Japanese haha)

1.) Challenge

2.) Kaizen (improvement)

3.) Genchi Genbutsu (go and see)

4.) Respect

5.) Teamwork

All of these are exceptional values to have, and the numbers prove it. Toyota is a values-based, accountable company, and I wish only the best for them.

However, the only organization I love more than Toyota (Pi Kappa Alpha, excluded) is the good ol' USA, and as much as I gush about them, I still buy American made. Chevrolet, all the way :)