The whole idea behind leadership is accepting responsibility. When you see people who run away from taking up responsibilities, then such people are not ready to take the lead in their chosen endeavours. Leadership without responsibilities is no leadership at all, because there is no leader anywhere who has not been given or assigned a task to be accomplish. In Isaiah 6:8, Prophet Isaiah said he heard the voice of the Lord saying "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then Isaiah responded by saying, "Here I am, Send Me."

Responsibilities opens up the door into leadership. Whenever God wants to gets certain things done on earth, He looks for men who can take up the task. Each time we examine situations where it appears things are not working, it is because certain people have refused to take up responsibilities to do what is right or rejecting to take the lead in finding lasting solutions. Take for instance, if things are not going well or smoothly in an organization; look at those at the helm of affairs. You would see along the line that someone is lagging in his or her duties.

When a home is falling apart, look at the headship of that family. You won't look too far before you realise that the man, who is the supposed leader; is failing in his responsibilities. What if we examine a nation as well, the same thing is applicable. A nation would fall apart and into shreds when the leadership of such nation is not rising up to take responsibilities. I love to use Nigeria as an example because that is where I live. So many things are not working the way they should work, simply because the current leadership blames everything that is not working on past administrations.

Ask President Buhari, why is the economy the way it is? He would simply respond by saying it is because the previous administration looted the treasury and they are corrupt. He has never taking responsibility for anything that is not working under him since he has been given the mandate to lead the nation some years back. You see, one hallmark of a bad leader is that they never accept responsibilities, either for their failures or in taking the lead. They blame everyone else for everything that is not working except themselves.

Accepting responsibility for a leader means you have decided to take up the task and confront it head-on. It means you are solely responsible, either for your own success or failure while executing the task. Giving excuses are not a good feature for effective leadership. I remember when God was querying Adam: Why did you eat the fruit I said you should not eat? Adam responded by saying; "The woman you gave me said I should eat it." The God turned to the woman, Eve and said; why did you eat the forbidden fruit? She also responded by saying; "The serpent beguiled me."

Their excuses infuriated God to the point that He placed a curse on them; one, for disobeying His instructions by partaking of the forbidden fruit, and two; by not accepting responsibility for their mistakes.

If there is something you must take away from this piece, it is the fact that becoming an effective leader starts from taking up responsibilities, first and foremost; to lead. You are not running away from tasks or activities that can bring out the leadership qualities in you. When there is a vacuum somewhere, you simply accept the task of filling it up. Secondly, it is also accepting responsibilities for certain things that have gone wrong under your watch. Don't always look for a way out, you must take responsibility; either for your own successes or for your own failures as well.

God bless you.

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Obayomi Abiola Benjamin!

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