Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Key Takeaways

After a mistake, write the conditions that led to that mistake before you write the name of the person who made it. Leaders control more of the context than anyone else, so they own a share of the failure environment even when they did not make the last move.

Upward accountability does not erase individual agency. Someone still made a choice, so you should still hold them accountable.

The principle: The leader’s first job after failure is to make truth safe enough to surface.

The first time a deadline slipped hard on my watch as a founder, I scanned the room for a name. Who dropped it? Who missed the handoff? Who should have flagged it sooner? The quiet that followed was the real signal. People were deciding how much of the truth was still safe to bring to me.

I remember that quiet more than the missed date.

Here’s my situation, so you know where I’m coming from.…