Definition: I am 100% Responsible for how I choose to react to what happens to me. Everyone else is 0% Responsible.

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1 100% Responsibility Everything can be taken from a man but his freedom to choose. The last of the human freedoms to choose one s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one s way. Viktor Frankl Viktor Frankl wrote these profound words in his classic book, Man s Search for Meaning. Frankl was a Jewish psychiatrist who discovered this wisdom through his experience as a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. Although Frankl escaped death, he was beaten, tortured, humiliated and restrained in a prison cell. His family, including his wife and children, all lost their lives in the Holocaust. From this experience Frankl observed that the highest need of a human being is the will to meaning and purpose in life. In the concentration camps, prisoners who surrendered the will to purpose unto their captors, died shortly thereafter. This led him to the conclusion that human beings find meaning and purpose in life by maintaining the freedom to choose how to react to their external circumstances, no matter how unfair and painful it may be. We choose our own attitude. Once we give up the freedom to choose how we will react, we become prisoners of those circumstances: emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. We call this principle 100% Responsibility Definition: I am 100% Responsible for how I choose to react to what happens to me. Everyone else is 0% Responsible. Responsibility comes from two words, response and ability. This literally means I have the ability to choose my response to what happens to me. I have a free will to choose and no one can cause me to make bad decisions or have a negative attitude without my permission. 100% Responsibility means I take responsibility for my own choices and actions; it allows me to be free to choose to do the right thing and be the right kind of person. I do not blame, make excuses, feel sorry for myself, disengage, whine, or rationalize. Ultimately I have only two choices in life: I can choose to be responsible for my own choices and be free or I can give up that responsibility to my circumstances and become a prisoner or victim of them. How I choose will have everything to do with my behaviors and actions. We are what we think, behaviors simply follow. If we believe others are responsible for how we choose to react (attitude) then we will be a pitiful prisoner or victim of them. If we believe we are responsible for our choices, then we will be free--not free to do whatever feels good, brings us the greatest amount of pleasure, or avoids the greatest amount of pain-- but the freedom to do the right thing, be the right kind of person, and live a life of purpose and meaning. Life is inherently unfair; it has always been and will always be so. Real freedom is being able to respond in the right way regardless of the unfair things that may happen to us.

2 100% Responsibility 2 of 7 What does it mean to do the right thing or become the right kind of person? Becoming the right kind of person means I am actively engaged, committed, and purpose driven in my life, maximizing my opportunities to be a great leader, team member, spouse, parent and friend. In my endeavors I choose to exemplify certain moral virtues of excellence that enhance my effectiveness. Examples of moral virtues are integrity, honesty, humility, courage, patience, and empathy. (See Team Trek TTLP) I also choose to be the solution to the problem rather than being the problem. 100% Responsibility under girds our effectiveness as a human being. For if we know the right thing to do but always have an excuse as to why we can t do it, then what is the point of even knowing the right thing to do. Acting with 100% Responsibility does not mean we are perfect or will not fail. It means instead that we quickly take ownership of our response to unfairness, inequity, or our own failures. It does not mean we are literally responsible for everything that happens to us, only retaining emotional self-control and choosing the right response to what has happened. 100% Responsibility is the foundational principle for The Team Trek Leadership Profile (TTLP) and The Team Trek Team Profile (TTTP). How does 100% Responsibility create a culture of actively engaged people? 100% Responsibility is the foundational moral virtue for an actively engaged person. The moral virtues of the actively engaged person are all acquirable. Therefore, we can all choose to be actively engaged, regardless of our environment. The primary barrier preventing us from being actively engaged is excuses. When we become disengaged, we almost always do so because we have become a victim of our environment. We begin to think false beliefs such as I could be actively engaged if the environment would change. As long as this type of thinking prevails, we continue to disengage, waiting for some type of perfect environment that is highly unlikely to ever exist. Instead of waiting for the environment to change, it is far more effective to exhibit 100% Responsibility, change myself into an actively engaged person, and thereby change the environment around me. 100% Responsibility produces a culture of results All of the great organizations we have studied have at least one thing in common. They all have a culture built upon the principle of 100% Responsibility. How does this principle translate into results? In an ever-changing world, an organization cannot survive if it is unwilling to change. Therefore, success requires that the people in the organization take healthy risks by generating and implementing new ideas that will make the organization better. Of course, some ideas will succeed and some ideas will fail. When there is a failure, it is essential that people take

3 100% Responsibility 3 of 7 100% Responsibility for the failure itself, their part in creating the failure, their learning from the failure and what they will do to prevent another failure in the future. Great organizations that produce long-term sustainable results move through the following cycle very quickly: Take a healthy risk If success, then celebrate If a failure, take 100% Responsibility Identify the learning Apply the learning Notice that most organizations get stuck after the failure because the most common responses to failure are blaming, excuse-making, whining and self-pity. All of these behaviors take the focus away from where it should be solving the problem! How do you create a culture of 100% Responsibility in your organization? The most effective strategy for creating a culture of 100% Responsibility is to live this principle yourself. When a problem arises, immediately take full responsibility for any part you have played in creating the problem. Then take full responsibility for doing something to solve the problem. Our years of observing teams have consistently proven that when one person takes responsibility for themselves, other team members tend to do the same thing. Before you know it, everyone has examined themselves and is learning and growing, and most importantly, the attention shifts to solving the problem. So why do I tend to avoid taking responsibility for myself? The primary reason is fear. I am afraid that if I admit my mistake or failure, you will have less respect for me and will trust me less. This is simply not true. Taking 100% Responsibility for yourself actually increases others respect for you. As a matter of fact, it makes you a more trustworthy person. It is true that making the same mistake over and over will certainly decrease trust, but the simple fact is that when you take full responsibility for yourself, you are highly motivated to change, and unlikely to make that same mistake again in the future.

4 100% Responsibility 4 of 7 Right thinking is the basis for right behavior A man s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance The way we think determines our behaviors and ultimately defines who we are. As Allen says, our mind is like a garden and we reap what we sow, more than we sow, and later than we sow. If we are to change our behaviors, we must first change the way we think. Right thinking is the key to becoming a great leader, spouse, parent, team member, and friend. This is because we attract to ourselves that which we are. To have influence with others we must first be a person of influence. Gandhi said, Be the change you want to see in the world. If right thinking is so critical to being an effective human being, what is it that we think? Let s begin with wrong thinking: of useless weed seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind. James Allen

5 100% Responsibility of 7 Five False Beliefs At Team Trek we believe there are five false beliefs that negatively affect the way we act. It is from these five false beliefs that nearly all negative behaviors flow. In order to change, we must first replace these false beliefs with those that are true. False Beliefs False Belief True Belief 1 2 Others are responsible for how I choose to respond to what happens to me. Those who fail are unworthy and deserve to be punished. Especially me! I am 100% Responsible for how I choose to react to what happens to me. Everyone else is 0% Responsible. Everyone experiences failure, and it is through failure that we learn. If I fail it is not a reflection on my worthiness as a human being. It is through failure that I learn and increase my self-awareness. When I fail I act with 100% Responsibility, forgive myself, learn, and move forward. 3 I am who I am. I cannot change. I can change my behaviors if I change the way I think. 4 I must have the approval of certain key people in order to have self-worth. Change is negative and must be avoided at all cost. I may desire the approval of others, but my self-worth is not dependent on it. Instead, my worth as a human being results from making and keeping promises to myself. External change is inevitable. No matter how hard I try I cannot control my circumstances, but only how I respond to them.

6 100% Responsibility 6 of 7 The following model illustrates how behaviors flow from our beliefs and the impact they have on others. False Beliefs Give up my personal power/emotional self control Prisoner/Victim Wrong Thinking Behaviors (excuses, blame, whine, disengage, passive aggressive, self-pity, triangulation, stuck, self absorbed, negative attitude) Habits of wrong thinking build Influence with others declines Thinking and behaviors further entrenched (results decline) Five False Beliefs reinforced (more difficult to change) Me Circumstances Emotion (anger, impatience, frustration, anxiety) CHOICE (freedom to choose) True Beliefs Retain my personal power/emotional self control Freedom Right Thinking Behaviors (100% Responsibility, part of the solution, purpose driven, seek moral virtues positive attitude, challenge others to be better, actively engaged, committed to something greater than self) Habits of right thinking build Influence with others increases Thinking and behaviors further entrenched (results increased) Five True Beliefs reinforced (becomes easier to change) Right thinking forms the foundation for being an effective human being. It is our thinking that produces our behaviors which then create our circumstances. We attract to ourselves that which we are. Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results and bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results. A person s character and attitude then is revealed through the circumstances he finds himself in, not determined by them.

7 100% Responsibility 7 of 7 100% Responsibility and emotional self control Human beings constantly experience a wide range of emotions. Some temperaments (Feelers) may place a higher priority on emotion than others (Thinkers), but regardless of temperament, emotions are a natural part of life. These emotions are part of what makes life enjoyable but also challenging. At one time or another, all of us experience strong emotions like fear and frustration that can be difficult to manage. These strong emotions have a tendency to produce wrong thinking like the False Beliefs. As the previous model shows, these False Beliefs then produce a host of negative behaviors. Emotional self control is the product of right thinking, and since what we think is completely within our control, 100% Responsibility is the driving principle. Of all the things we should take full responsibility for, our thinking is the highest priority. When I engage in right thinking, my strong emotions tend to fade, and what I ought to do becomes more clear. Emotions like fear should never be an excuse for failure to do the right thing. For this reason, courage and 100% Responsibility are closely related principles.