When the Excuse Expires

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Election season is upon us, and it reminds me that the oldest trick in leadership is to throw the last guy under the bus. It happens in politics, business, and government. A new leader walks in, sees the challenge, and says, “Don’t blame me. I just got here.” Sometimes that is fair. Every leader inherits something: a bad budget, tired employees, broken systems, old backlogs, and a culture built more around avoiding risk than solving problems.


There is an old joke about a departing leader who leaves two letters for his successor, each to be opened during a crisis. The first letter says, “Blame everything on me.” So, he does. For a while, it works. Then the second crisis comes. The same excuses no longer work, so he opens the second letter. It says, “Write two letters.”


That is the politics of inherited failure. Blame buys time. It does not buy competence. Every leader gets a short grace period to explain what they walked into. But eventually, ownership arrives. The question changes from, “Who caused this mess?” to “What did you do with the mess once it became yours?”


Real leadership starts when the excuse expires.


That is why leadership must be present. Not performative. Present. When you invest in a company, what kind of CEO do you want? The one always flying around the country, always on television, always polishing the image? Or the one with boots on the ground, walking the floor, talking to employees, listening to customers, finding the friction, and putting customers first?


A leader needs the vision of a lion. A lion survives because it can read what is close and still sense what is moving in the distance. That is what leadership should aspire to. You have to see the broken process, the tired employee, the confused customer, and the workaround everyone uses but no one admits exists. But you also have to see the horizon: the risk coming, the mission shifting, the technology changing, and the public losing trust.


Too many leaders choose one or the other. Some live only on the horizon, speaking in strategy and transformation while messaging on TV. Others live only in the daily fire and never lift their eyes long enough to build something better. Good leadership requires both. Close sight and long sight. Ground truth and direction.


Visibility is not the same thing as presence. A leader can give great brand interviews while the operation quietly falls apart. The truth usually lives close to the front line, with the employee who knows what is broken and the customer who feels it first.


In plain service, leadership is not about being seen. It is about seeing clearly. Blame may open the door. Presence is what earns the right to stay in the room.

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