External Accountability versus Internal Accountability

The quality or state of being accountable. especially : an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions.

I am accountable to gravity. Why? .. Gravity here on Earth is a fixed, an unbendable force of nature that says “defy me and pay the consequence”! says Gravity with some gravity!

Who amongst us hasn’t tried jumping from a height with an umbrella?

Exceptions? Yes always. It took a while but eventually we fiddled around with bits and piece of material and walla! An aeroplane.

We?, not me actually. Orville and Wilbur and actually Da Vinci a very, very large Hourglass a few hundreds of very large Hourglasses earlier, explored and observed, flight, by watching the buzzards circling in the air (defying gravity?) above the tangled squashed heaps of those who tried and failed amongst the tangles of broken ‘umbrellas’.

So? .. key words: Obligation, willingness, accepted responsibility and Actions.

Oh .. and I had better add ; Consequence. (remember this word, its critical in understanding this rather grave topic)

So, as it turns out, we can obtain Gravity’s permission to defy the rule for a period of time only. So by a use of physics and clever arithmetic, and put that along with all the bits and pieces of acquired materials, put them in the Magic Bullet blender and it was discovered that if we introduced Force and Mass, its possible, while Gravity is busy, to fly for a period of time only (much much smaller hourglasses) and if we should defy Gravity, the only thing that is left, is the ‘mass’ held at your local church, with family and colleagues all dressed in black. The eulogy punctuated by many a “I told you so’s”.

Actually, as an aside, did you know that should you take an hourglass and shake it, it doesn’t make the sand flow faster! It actually flows slower! It all about the sums of clever arithmetic, that determine, due to ‘G Force’, that slows the sand by 9. something seconds over that hour! Btw .. don’t let your colleagues see you doing that for an hour.. not a good look!

Which by the way, you sitting there at your desk at work, shaking the hourglass for an hour, falls into the category of ‘external accountability’

So External Accountability is enforceable by external consequences. It regulated, designed to be a standard and open to public scrutiny! (remember my aside?)  Key word: enforceable

Now; Internal accountability is a different hourglass altogether! Here, in this perspective, you are the Gravity!

Many light year ‘hourglasses’ ago, the earth was formed. At its core was a mass that determines its gravity. Its set in stone so to speak. You know it, and have the bruises to show, The Wright brothers knew it, and so did Leonardo. And quite possibly, so did Ug when Missus Ug, over the hair pulling, pushed him out the cave door! All those years ago.

Now you and I, although some would debate with some gravity, we were for

med also with a core. We have internal values, as well as external. Its determined by how I behave externally, driven by the ‘internal’ force at my core. Now this force has its rules and it rewards. I like the trust, the credibility that comes with it. But more importantly I really like the internal gratification, the pleasure it brings when I remain and behave true to its ‘pull’

Reflection Questions

What type of accountability do you rely on ??