I believe for most people in the US, it is easier just to blame someone else than to own up to our mistakes. The rich blame the government, the poor blame the rich, the democrats blame the republicans and employees blame their boss. The cycle goes on and on. Who is to blame? For the entrepreneur or true leader, the person to blame is the person staring back in the mirror every morning. We have to accept blame for mistakes as well as accept the responsibility for our victories. I found this story and poem the other day and it really made me chuckle about the measures Americans will go to avoid blame. This is the story of four people named everybody, somebody, anybody and nobody by former CBS news anchor Charles Osgood.  I hope you enjoy the poem as much as I did.

There was a most important job that needed to be done,
And no reason not to do it, there was absolutely none.
But in vital matters such as this, the thing you have to ask
Is who exactly will it be who’ll carry out the task?

Anybody could have told you that everybody knew
That this was something somebody would surely have to do.
Nobody was unwilling; anybody had the ability.
But nobody believed that it was their responsibility.

It seemed to be a job that anybody could have done,
If anybody thought he was supposed to be the one.
But since everybody recognized that anybody could,
Everybody took for granted that somebody would.

But nobody told anybody that we are aware of,
That he would be in charge of seeing it was taken care of.
And nobody took it on himself to follow through,
And do what everybody thought that somebody would do.

When what everybody needed so did not get done at all,
Everybody was complaining that somebody dropped the ball.
Anybody then could see it was an awful crying shame,
And everybody looked around for somebody to blame.

Somebody should have done the job
And Everybody should have,
But in the end Nobody did
What Anybody could have.

For the leader or entrepreneur this is a very amusing poem. For the follower or employee it is simply a lesson. If you have a job to do, just do it. It is everybody’s job, not just somebody’s job, because if you count on anybody else to do it, then nobody will do it. If you wish to get ahead in your job or aspire to be an entrepreneur you mustn’t blame or complain. You must do the job or task at hand. Here’s to your success!

“My great mistake, the fault for which I can’t forgive myself, is that one day I ceased my obstinate pursuit of my own individuality.”—Oscar Wilde

Image by Ambro at www.freedigitalphotos.net

Tim Wilhoit is owner/principal of Your Friend 4 Life Insurance Agency in Nashville, TN. He is a family man, father of 3, entrepreneur, insurance agent, life insurance broker, salesman, sales trainer, recruiter, public speaker, blogger and team leader with over 26 years of experience in sales and marketing in the insurance and beverage industries.