Leadership Isn’t About Holding People Accountable

Peter Delle
May 14, 2025

"Hold your team accountable."

It’s one of the most repeated leadership phrases out there.

And it sounds right—until you're six months in, exhausted, and wondering why you're still the one checking if things got done.

Because here’s the truth:

If you're the accountability system, you're the bottleneck.

It means the team isn't aligned.

It means you're compensating for a lack of clarity, ownership, or trust.

And it means you're leading a group of executors—not a group of leaders.

Most founders think their job is to enforce follow-through.

But when you spend your days following up, pushing things forward, or subtly managing people’s motivation...

You're not leading. You're supervising.

That creates three hidden costs:

You burn out. You're carrying invisible emotional weight for the whole org.
Your team plateaus. People wait for direction instead of acting on conviction.
The business slows down. Momentum dies in the lag between “idea” and “reminder.”

The goal isn’t to hold people accountable.

The goal is to build systems where people hold themselves accountable.

And that shift happens when three things are true:

Clear outcomes. Not vague responsibilities—crisp, owned results.
Real authority. They can make decisions, not just check boxes.
Built-in feedback loops. So progress (or lack of it) is visible without your intervention.

Ownership is not a personality trait. It’s a design choice.

And it's your job to make it the default.

In your next 1:1, swap this question:

❌ “Where are you on that?”
✅ “What would need to be true for you to own this fully—without needing me at all?”

It’s a simple flip. But it will reveal everything.

Gaps in clarity. Confidence. Authority. Process.

And it sets the tone:

You’re not here to monitor progress. You’re here to build people who drive it.

Forward this to a cofounder or ops lead and ask:

“Where in our company is ownership still being propped up by us?”

If you solve that, you scale more than output.

You scale leadership.

Best,
Peter Delle

P.S. Here’s What 80-Hour Weeks Actually Do to Your Brain