One of the things that annoys me to no end is the lack of accountability in large organizations, be it public or private. As a customer of an organization, I have at various times tried to figure out who is responsible and accountable for the decisions that the organization makes that affect me. Similarly, in companies that I work with, it is unclear who is accountable for not taking action in response to things are obviously are going to affect the company and where not taking action a really bad idea. Reflecting on this, I realize that systems are intentionally designed to avoid personal accountability and everyone can blame “the system”. Having worked in industry both in the US and in Europe, I realize that this is a fundamental difference between both systems. In the US it often is clearly defined who is accountable for particular outcome and failing to deliver or operating out of bounds will simply result in demotion or getting fired. When visiting a large European company this week that is really struggling with poor financial results, the general attitude that was shared by the people that I met was to wait and hope that things would become better. It often ends up as learned selfhelplessness. Now, you, my dear reader, are a protagonist and take action where it is required. Or? As a reflection: where are you not taking action, even if you know you should? In the end, it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission!