Leadership Means Owning the Outcome

A guest column by former journalist Randy Evans in the Des Moines Register recently contrasted two very different views of leadership. One belonged to General Dwight D. Eisenhower. The other belongs to President Donald Trump.

On the eve of D-Day in June 1944, Eisenhower drafted a short statement accepting responsibility if the Allied invasion failed. His message was simple. “If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.”

The invasion succeeded, but the note survived as an enduring example of leadership and accountability.

Evans compared Eisenhower’s example to Trump’s recent response after Congressman Randy Feenstra lost Iowa’s Republican gubernatorial primary despite receiving Trump’s “complete and total endorsement.”

Rather than accepting responsibility for a failed endorsement, Trump argued that he had not been given proper information and suggested he might have made a different decision had others advised him differently.

On its own, the episode might seem insignificant. But it is not significant because of Randy Feenstra. It is significant because it reflects a pattern.

One of the most consistent characteristics of Donald Trump’s public life has been his refusal to accept responsibility when things go wrong. When business ventures failed, someone else was blamed. When political strategies failed, someone else was blamed. When elections were lost, someone else was blamed. When policies produced unintended consequences, someone else was blamed. And when endorsements failed, someone else was blamed.

The names, circumstances, and explanations change, but the outcome rarely does. Responsibility is almost always assigned elsewhere.

Success belongs to Trump. Failure belongs to someone else.

That is why Evans’ comparison to Eisenhower is so striking. Eisenhower understood that leadership and accountability are inseparable. If you claim the authority to make decisions, you must also accept responsibility for the consequences of those decisions.

That principle is not political. It is a simple matter of character.

Many Iowans were raised with a simple lesson, that when you make a mistake, admit it. When you are wrong, say so. And when your decision causes a problem, you own it.

That lesson applies to children, business leaders, and elected officials. And it applies to presidents.

Character is not measured by how often we succeed. Character is measured by what we do when we fail.

Do we learn? Do we accept responsibility? Do we tell the truth about what happened? Or do we search for someone else to blame?

That is why Eisenhower’s note remains relevant today. It reminds us that leadership is not about claiming credit. It is about accepting responsibility.

And in a political era where blame is constantly shifted to opponents, advisers, bureaucrats, the media, previous administrations, or anyone else who happens to be convenient, that may be one of the most important Iowa values of all.