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Ownership Is Accountability, Not Control
Years ago, I was in a Central American country as a member of a large volunteer organization. We had strict rules about where we could go and do while we were there, and sightseeing wasn’t generally on the approved list of things to do.
One day, I was driving a carload of people from the organization around the capital city. Knowing there were some amazing landmarks only a few blocks away from where we were, I decided a quick detour wouldn’t hurt.
Those few blocks happened to take us into an area of the capital where we were not allowed to go.
A few minutes later, we pulled up to the National Palace and everyone jumped out of the van. We all took turns climbing up on a small security post, getting a picture in front of the historic structure, then we piled back into the van and went on our way.
Of the twelve or so people in the van, my friend and I were the only ones who knew we weren’t supposed to go near the historic district of the capital. The two of us made the great miscalculation of telling the other ten not to mention it to our group leader — a man we referred to as El Jefe (the boss) — that we’d gone to the national palace because it was in the off-limits area.
The existence of off-limits areas was as much for our own safety as anything else. Strict adherence to…
