Now I’ve nothing against throwing third but…

There just seems to be something wrong with a skip who will gladly accept the glory but not the responsibility for making the deciding shots. Tonight’s game is an example but there have been others who have taken the same out.

Business is business, if I’m in charge then I’m in charge and if the team falls short and we fail or lose money (or the game) then it’s my fault. If the team comes up short then it’s on my head and no one else’s and I say that for a number of reasons.

ONE: I should have trained them better.

TWO: I should have taken the time to find out what obstacles there were that resulted in them not being able to produce (Training? Education? Medical? Personal?) and helped them to overcome any such difficulties.

THREE: If they were not capable of being trained then I should have recognized that, accepted my shortcoming in not being able to get them up to speed, removed them and moved on with lessons learned.

To get back to curling however, if I want to accept the glory by calling it MY team then I CANNOT pass off the final decision or final shot to someone else. I personally have to accept the responsibility, take the shot and be willing to absorb the hits as well as the cheers.

I have to be willing to concede that if there is someone else in the group who can take point and do a better job than myself then I MUST stand aside and make sure they get the full credit they deserve. It cannot be MY project, MY victory, MY glory... unless I'm willing to take the responsibility and accept the possibility of having my name attached to a failure.

It is my opinion that leaders cannot give themselves "outs" in sports, business, politics or life. What do YOU think?