(6 minute read)

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Five Radical Principles On Becoming An Influencer 

Radical Truth #4 – Becoming Radical In Your Accountability

“The more difficult the task, the more uncertain the outcome, the more costly talk will be and the farther we run from actual accountability.”

Ryan Holiday, Ego Is The Enemy, Portfolio, Penguin, 2016

It’s a curious quote from Holiday. Especially since it’s out of context. In context it’s an explosive adage and I promise to put it all together for you.

It is also especially curious since Holiday wrote the best seller, Trust Me I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator. It was required reading for my public relations students.

If there is anyone that would know about accountability it would be Holiday. Much of what is wrong with new media can be traced back to his manipulating tactics. As Director of Marketing he created some of the most controversial advertising campaigns garnered to create publicity and clicks.

Released in 2011, it is a tell-all book about the PR industries media manipulation. The book was written by someone who created public relation lies and manipulations for his clients. Nevertheless, his conscience gets the better of him and the book is a result.

Back to his quote.

“…the more costly talk will be and the further we run from actual accountability.”

“…we run from accountability.”

Accountability? Accountable to what or whom?

The word accountability, or rather the “principle of accountability,” is one that we usually learn when we are young. We learn that being accountable, or responsible, is an expectation we shoulder. This happens as we grow in understanding and continue to develop and venture out into the “real” world.

Being accountable is usually yoked to responsible behavior. This is rightly so, as it is placed on us by parents and family members first. We learn to behave in the company of others, in school, in work, etc. Behave below those standards and we quickly face the consequences.

We are, as they say, held accountable.

But this is where I find Holiday’s description of “actual accountability” so intriguing. Because he is using it to describe a situation where we are being accountable to …ourselves.

In Ego Is The Enemy, Holiday stresses that today the expectation is more talk, less action.

Generations are growing up in the alternate universe of social media platforms. They willingly live under a life where sharing everything is expected. It is their version of the “real” world. Some would call it an “alternate” reality. Tweet, post, click-a-pic, tik-tok-it, pick your poison, but let the world know what you are up to.

Forget to post? No worries. The sound of silence from the internet universe is deafening. It even has its own disease, FOMO (fear of missing out).

Forgot to look at your social media of choice? No worries. Your choice of social media have you covered. Like a trumpet calling the troops to arms, you’ll get a text or email message summoning your return.

Text message fees may apply. Check with your cellphone company for more information.

Let me reassure you. You are not reading the ramblings of an old-geezer to “get off my lawn.” I’ve long been a champion of media use and engagement.

Gladly use social media platforms, I would tell students, but be emphatic about knowing WHY you use it. Is there a measurable advantage to your engagement? Or are you trying to fill a hole in your life with its usage? Merrily engage with various media outlets but examine, know, and confidently articulate why you use them.

Use them, don’t let them use you. And there is a cautionary tale for this.

Again in his book, “Trust Me I’m Lying,” Holiday outlines his meteoric start of a career. In his early twenties, he was overseeing marketing for American Apparel. He later advised upstart companies like Google, TASER, Complex, and others. The book was required reading because there are a plethora of examples of how NOT to do public relations. For me it is the bible of bad public relations.

Holiday knows the traditional and social media landscape. For years, he has stepped away from that world. He spends most of his time as an author of philosophy and is a breath of fresh air. I highly recommend ALL of his works.

In our daily lives, various forces pull us from all directions. I think it’s fair to say that Holiday’s “actual accountability” is not one of feeling pressure from outside sources. No. The accountability described here is one of being accountable to ourselves. It’s the only one real “true” accountability that matters.

That may be a strange concept to some. We are usually taught about being accountable to all kinds of people, places, and things. But to ourselves? How does that happen and what does it even mean?

When I taught public relations I made it a point to teach “ethical public relations.” It meant insisting that practitioners in the profession be socially and morally responsible in their work.

No spinning. No lying.

I drilled into my students that the number one client that they were to be accountable to was themselves. In their career if they were caught in a lie then their credibility would be hard to recover. Regaining that trust was tough at best, almost insurmountable at worse.

Plenty of examples were provided. There isn’t a week that goes by and a PR practitioner goes down in flames in controversy.

Doing their work with a clear conscious and reputation should be their utmost priority. To tarnish it would be detrimental to themselves, their employer, and their clients. If they bought into it, personal accountability would be their Northstar.

There is personal power when insisting on being accountable to ideals. “Knowing ourselves” through critical examination is the first step. Who do we want to be? Imagine the kind of person you want to be 25 years from now. What does that look like?

Of course what I am asking is, can you imagine your ideal self, the person you eventually want to become? Being radically accountable to your ideal self is key and you are the best one to know that. This is a personal quest. One that we initially keep to ourselves.

Less talk and more action.

Some helpful tips.

• Be radical in your accountability to yourself
• Be radical in your accountability to the company you keep. You can’t be a radical agent of change if you are linked to anything that hinders your ideal self. It is a compromise not worth taking
• Be radical in your wish to see change in yourself and others. Hold your own feet to the fire before holding others
• Be radical in your commitment to seeing change for your generation. It only takes one committed individual to say no more to practices and inspire others to do the same