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You win some and you lose some. A saying as old as time.

It happens.

You can look back and see areas or gaps that you could have changed, relationships that could have been improved, pricing adjustments, the list goes on.

The most important part is that you reflect on both those wins and losses, cherish the wins, and own the losses.

The losses are a responsibility. It’s both an individual and a team’s responsibility.

The ownership and responsibility are critical, or else…the fingers start pointing.

In a loss where people don’t take responsibility, fingers start pointing.

It’s gut instinct: something goes sideways, and the blame fires out fast.

Must be the market, the boss, the government, a competitor, the team…anyone but you.

It’s easier to point a finger than look in the mirror. But the scoreboard doesn’t care about easy. The longer you live in blame, the tighter you chain yourself to the same tired results.

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Every moment spent fault-finding is a decision to stay stuck. Nothing changes until ownership starts. When you drop the finger-pointing and take full claim of your wins and losses, you shift from passenger to driver.

Let’s dance.

Something goes wrong, and suddenly it’s marketing’s fault, or the product wasn’t up to par, or leadership didn’t provide the support they promised. The reasons change, but the result is the same: responsibility ricochets around the room, but never lands at home.

It’s understandable. Nobody likes the sting of mistakes, and it’s human nature to want to preserve our status in front of peers or managers.

Whether you’re leading a team, building a business, or looking to advance your own career, the real edge comes from accountability. Not blame. Not fault. But a clear-eyed look at where you could have made things better.

I saw this firsthand working with a sales leader a few years ago. On paper, he checked all the boxes: smart, technically sound, and understood the customer.

But when deals began to slip away, he aimed the spotlight somewhere else: bad leads, product alignment, channel and distribution miscommunication, marketing that missed the mark, the list went on.

With each loss, the story grew, and he did everything but take ownership of his team and his deals. What he didn’t realize was that every cycle like this was costing more than numbers; it was quietly shaping team culture and trust.

Finger-pointing never stays isolated. It’s contagious. When one person is allowed to dodge ownership, it signals to everyone else that excuses are acceptable.

Slowly, momentum stalls. Meetings shift from creative problem-solving to airing grievances. The flow of ideas dries up. The best people either start to check out or leave for teams where the focus is on fixing instead of blaming.

Check out other past articles I've written on ownership here:

When Chaos Hits, Accountability Wins

The Art of Showing Up

Stop Blaming Price - Unveiling the Truth Behind Lost Sales

Ownership is often described as an individual trait….and it absolutely matters to look in the mirror before you look out the window.

Accountability accelerates when teams hold it as a shared standard.

Successes multiply because each person knows their best move is to own their impact, positive or negative. Even stumbles are seen as a shared data set, not just a mark against one name.

It’s tempting to think this only matters when things go wrong. In reality, teams that practice shared ownership find that wins become more sustainable and repeatable. They celebrate together, break down how they got there, and embed those behaviors in their workflows. When someone misses, the conversation isn’t about shame; it’s about learning, adapting, and running the next play even better.

And yes, there will be moments when circumstances are truly outside your control, the market shifts, the competition undercuts, and the conditions change overnight. But even then, your opportunity to lead is defined by your willingness to own your next action. Teams that adopt this mindset become resilient, creative, and deeply loyal to each other and the mission.

Make room for postmortems that are about learning, not blame. Reward the courage to speak up first about what could have gone better. When you create safety for ownership, you unlock the best in your team.

Ultimately, nobody else is responsible for your outcomes, just as you can’t build real progress alone.

The highest-performing groups in any field know how to blend radical personal responsibility with fierce team support. Individual accountability isn’t the enemy of team culture; it’s the foundation.

Every honest look in the mirror is a step up. And every small act of ownership compounds, raising your own game, shaping your team, and building unshakeable trust.

From new tools, recent trends, and market updates, here is what has been on my mind.

Progress doesn’t start with perfect circumstances or flawless plans. It begins the moment you stop dodging and start owning.

When you turn accountability into your default, you stop dragging yesterday’s mistakes into tomorrow’s chance. Teams built on ownership move faster, trust harder, and rally stronger.

So ditch the excuses.

Make ownership the standard you set for yourself and the invitation you extend to your team.

Success is a team sport, but it’s built on personal plays. Your best work starts the second you take responsibility. That’s where things get interesting. That’s where you start to win, for real, and for good.

Have a great Thanksgiving week with friends, family, and loved ones. I’ll see you next week.