To cultivate a culture of high agency, frame ultimate responsibility as a privilege, not a burden. By telling new hires 'everything's your fault now,' you immediately set the expectation that they have control and are empowered to solve problems. This approach attracts and retains individuals who see ownership as an opportunity to make an impact.

A core tenet of Forrest Li's leadership is that leaders must personally own and execute the most difficult decisions, like freezing salaries. He argues that pleasant and popular tasks should be delegated, while the leader's ultimate responsibility is to show up in difficult times and make the unpopular-but-necessary calls.

True accountability extends beyond your own direct mistakes. Even when someone else is the cause of a problem, hold yourself responsible for having put yourself in that situation. This mindset empowers you to learn from the experience and avoid similar issues in the future by analyzing your choices.

Contrary to the popular advice to 'hire great people and get out of their way,' a CEO's job is to identify the three most critical company initiatives. They must then dive deep into the weeds to guarantee their success, as only the CEO has the unique context and authority to unblock them.

In a truly product-led company, the product organization must accept ultimate accountability for business-wide challenges. Issues in sales, marketing, or customer success are not separate functional problems; they are reflections of the product's shortcomings, requiring product leaders to take ownership beyond their immediate domain.

To create a future-ready organization, leaders must start with humility and publicly state, "I don't know." This dismantles the "Hippo" (Highest Paid Person's Opinion) culture, where everyone waits for the boss's judgment. It empowers everyone to contribute ideas by signaling that past success doesn't guarantee future survival.

Our culture equates accountability with punishment. A more powerful form of accountability is making someone a co-owner in solving the root problem. This ensures the issue doesn't recur and is the ultimate form of taking responsibility for one's actions.

Diller emphasizes that once you learn about an internal issue—be it theft, unethical behavior, or a product flaw—a clock starts ticking. From that exact moment, every action or inaction is your responsibility. This principle establishes a clear line for accountability and demands immediate, decisive leadership.

You may not be at fault for a negative event, but you are always responsible for your response to it. Blaming others, even correctly, disempowers you. Taking radical responsibility for your reaction is the first step toward improving any situation.