Meadville High Commencement Speech

FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras [PDF]:

I have yet to see a “blamer” – someone who fails to stand up and take responsibility – who is truly successful or satisfied. This is because blaming, while easy, is contrary to who we are as Americans. It runs contrary to our fundamentals. As author Philip Howard put it in his book The Death of Common Sense, “taking responsibility was, of course, the basic premise of the republic.”4 And in a recently published book, America Against The World, the authors reported that in a survey of 44 nations, the United States was among the top in believing that those who fail have themselves, not society, to blame.5 These authors describe us as “a people who are more personally freewheeling, self-reliant, and adverse to government involvement” than peoples of most other nations. This tells me that taking responsibility is still fundamentally engrained in our culture and in our beings.

When you stand up and take responsibility, you will show yourself as a leader and as one who deserves respect.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at July 14, 2006 11:22 AM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas