I abosolutely love this article from Vern Harnish's blog in connection with the latest Jim Collins book How The Mightly Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In.
Job vs. Responsibility -- p. 57 -- this is one of my favorite "how to's" in the book -- notes Collins "One notable distinction between wrong people and right people (in key seats) is that the former see themselves as having 'jobs,' while the latter see themselves as having 'responsibilities. Every person in a key seat should be able to respond to the question "What do you do?" not with a job title, but with a statement of personal responsibility. "I'm the one person ultimately responsible for x and y." Think columns two and three on our People Accountability worksheet. In fact, Collins, when he's hosting executive teams at his research lab often challenges executives to introduce themselves not with titles, but by articulating their responsibilities. As he notes "those who have lost (or not yet built) a culture of discipline find this question to be terribly difficult."
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