Success as a professional is as much about avoiding the wrong things as much as it is about doing the right things. Making an excuse or worst, blaming others, is a habit one should always abstain from. Benjamin Franklin once said – “He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else”. So, instead of playing the game of passing the buck, we should stand and take the charge. This not only makes us a good leader, but also a good team player.
In general, we all have the habit of passing the buck. It’s like, ‘we wake up in the morning, grab a cup of coffee, take a shower and take the Blame Game box, put it under our arms and head out into the world’. Even in television advertisements these days, we can notice how we put blames on others of being insensitive, careless and dishonest, while actually doing nothing on our part to change the scenario because it’s easier said than done.
There are many other habits in a person that make him/her incompetent and liability for others like habit of being vague in objective, inconsistent performance, lack of orientation and implementation, bad listeners, etc. but the habit of passing the buck is most irritating as it not only say – Don’t blame me, but “it’s your fault”.
Somewhat similar situation is happening in our country in 2G Spectrum Scam. In this case, A Raja is accused in the court by CBI of rigging the allocation of 2G Spectrum in 2008 to largely benefit Swan and Unitech – two companies who reportedly cost the Government Rs. 2200 Crore. Both sold equity to foreign investors for significant profit after they were given their licenses.
While NDA (the opposition) blames the ruling Government (UPA) for the scam, the UPA is holding NDA Government of 2003 responsible for the faulty start of 2G Spectrum allocation. According to them, the first-come-first-serve policy of NDA Government actually went against the decision of the cabinet of that time. So, we can see how the bucks are being passed from one party to the other.
The attitude of passing the buck has always been criticized, especially by the leaders who have courage inbuilt in their system.
They are leaders only because they have the guts to stand in front and lead. One such campaign was started by The Times of India called The Lead India campaign. Through this campaign, a clear message has been sent in the public that to achieve something in life, one needs to stand and take responsibility instead of passing the buck on others.
The video of ‘The Lead India campaign’ showed how a small kid took the initiative of removing a big tree trunk from the road that was causing a traffic jam. Although the tree trunk in itself was huge and beyond his capacity, but still he tried and others who were present there also supported him and ultimately they removed the block and traffic went smoothly.
The kid showed the leadership attitude and instead of waiting for someone who will come and remove the tree trunk, he himself took the initiative of removing it. These types of campaign show it very evidently that leaders never pass the buck.
Thus, passing the buck is like acknowledging your responsibilities and blaming others for non compliance of duties that were primarily assigned to you. This clearly signifies that shouldering responsibility, however onerous it is, is the hallmark of a person of integrity. So, let us then learn to accept and tackle challenges head on and emerge triumphant in this ultimate test of our character and utilize every opportunity as ‘stepping stone to success’ instead of passing the buck
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