Steve Jobs Said This is When Great Bosses Say ‘I,’ Not ‘We’

Imagine you’re standing in front of your team. You would never say “my company.” You say, “Our company.” You would never say, “My sales are up 30 percent.” You say, “Our sales are up 30 percent.”

You’re all in it together — and you definitely want your team to think you’re all in it together — so you always say, “we,” not “I.”

But not to Steve Jobs. Here’s John Rossman in his book Think Like Amazon:

Steve Jobs told employees a short story when they were promoted to vice president at Apple. Jobs would tell the VP that if the garbage in his office was not being emptied, Jobs would naturally demand an explanation from the janitor.

“Well, the lock on the door was changed,” the janitor could reasonably respond. “And I couldn’t get a key.”

The janitor’s response is reasonable. It’s an understandable excuse. The janitor can’t do his job without a key. As a janitor, he’s allowed to have excuses.

“When you’re the janitor, reasons matter, “Jobs told his newly minted VPs. “Somewhere between the janitor and the CEO, reasons stop mattering

“In other words, when the employee becomes a vice president, he or she must vacate all excuses for failure. A vice president is responsible for any mistakes that happen, and it doesn’t matter what you say.”

Rossman calls embracing that level of responsibility owning your dependencies: taking absolute responsibility for every possible dependency under your purview.

You need supplies to complete an order, and the shipment from your supplier is delayed? You should have made sure commitments were clear, and put contingencies and redundancies in place. The delayed shipment may be the supplier’s fault, but making sure critical parts are on hand is your responsibility. 

There’s a quote often credited to Ignatius: “Pray as if God will take care of all; act as if all is up to you.” When you’re in charge, the same premise applies to personal responsibility.

Many people feel success or failure is caused by external forces, and especially by other people. If they succeed, other people helped them or supported them, other people were “with” them. If they fail, other people let them down, didn’t believe in them, didn’t help them. Other people were “against” them.

To an extent that is, of course, true. No one ever does anything worthwhile on their own. 

But great leaders don’t totally rely on others. Great leaders shoot for the best, and plan for the worst. They set clear expectations. They communicate, a lot. They follow up. They mentor and guide and train. They lead and work through others… but they accept final responsibility.

Why? Because the only thing they know they can control is themselves. They act as if success or failure is totally within their control. If they succeed, they caused it. If they fail, they caused it.

As Jobs would say, “Reasons stop mattering.” You’re in charge. You’re responsible.

When things go well, even if you did all the work? Stick to “we” and “our.”

When things go wrong, say “I” and “my.”

Because when you’re in charge, it really is up to you.

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