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Why Blame A Mosquito?

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Taking Responsibility for Our Actions

Why Blame A Mosquito?

When I fell ill after returning from an international trip a while back, it was not fun. I almost died and it was all because I failed to do what I knew I should have done. I found out that the cause of my illnes was a mosquito bite but instead of taking responsibility for my inaction however, I railed against the mosquito for making me sick. I blamed the airline for not taking precaution and letting the mosquito into the plane. I even blamed the host country for allowing mosquitoes into the airport! But was it really the mosquito's fault that I got sick?

Taking Responsibility for our Action or Inaction

"You should do it, you could do it, but don't do it. It's called formula for disaster" - Jim Rohn

Before my trip, I knew about the importance of going to the Travel Clinic to get some shots, or advice about the current health risks in the region I was traveling to. While at my destination, I could have taken some precautions about the food I ate etc. but I did not. Like many of us, when things got bad and I ended up in the hospital, I immediately blamed the "damn mosquito" for making me sick.

This has a huge parallel with the way many of us run our businesses and organizations today. We know there are business decisions to be made: sales calls, customer visits, training etc. We know there are marketing materials to be sent out, bills to be paid, invoices to be sent, budgets to be made and strategic plans to be put in place, but we simply refuse to do them.

Take the issue of technology investment for example. we sneer at anyone who suggests that we should install a backup system for our critical business data. We pooh-pooh the idea that anyone out on the internet could be having a good time on our stolen credit card information. We go "oh, please" when it is mentioned that leaving a computer unpatched can lead to bad things happening.

Many, like me, claim to have seen it all - been there, done that. That was my rationale for not going to the travel clinic. I had been to the region several times in the past, enjoyed the local food and even drank their tap water and came back healthy.

When bad things happen, it does not take very long for us to know the real cause, but we automatically blame the effect - bad hard drive, mean internet hackers, mosquitoes, etc. Heck, we even blame the IT guy: "Damn fool, why did you not see that coming." We conveniently forget that for the past nine months, the poor fellow has been begging for money to upgrade the network.

The blaming a mosquito syndrome applies to all departments - from the CEO to the janitor. A company goes out of business and the first culprit is the economy, or customers who refused to spend money. Really? What about the expensive vacations and gifts to friends that the accountant has been griping about for years? What happened to the CEO's refusal to hire quality sales people? Did I mention the ridiculous bonuses for employees and family members who were not productive by all accounts? Oh, let's not forget the nice cars and big houses. These are all things we knew we should curtail but chose not to. The result is disaster.

Bathroom stinks like hell and the janitor knows it's time to do his round, but chooses to blame the "stupid, selfish folks" who refuse to flush the toilet instead. Accountant knows the boss is taking liberties with the books, but shrugs her shoulders and says "it's his company".

Same principle applies on the personal front. You know your health is failing, but refuse to go see a doctor. You can barely eat because your teeth hurt, but won't go to a dentist. You see the cracks on the foundation of your home, but think it's going to be too expensive to fix so you do nothing. Take it from here and make up your own list of things you should be doing, could be doing, but are not doing.

It is very easy to blame another entity when things go bad, but the first place to start is "what did I not do that could have prevented this? I have clients who call me everyday in desperation about a server not booting, a backup tape device not working, a computer with a virus or a hard drive that is no longer accessible. Some of these folks understand that just because it worked today does not guarantee that it will work tomorrow. Others tend to blame us for not preventing the problem. When the results come, will you take responsibility or are you going to blame a mosquito?