Often the first question that is asked when something goes wrong is, “Whose fault was it?” That might be appropriate when searching for a murderer or other criminal, but most of the problems in business and our daily lives are not caused by intentional acts. If our response is focused on blaming the person who made the mistake we will not gain an understanding of WHY the mistake occurred and what can be done to keep it from happening again.
The temptation to blame is especially strong when something UNFAIR happens to us, that is unless we are the beneficiaries of the unfairness. When the Cape got hit by hurricane Irene, my house lost power and I had to wait 6 hours before it was restored. Other area residents, who are no more to blame for the loss than I am, are faced with waiting up to 6 days before they'll get lectricity back. Oddly, I have not been complaining about the unfairness of this situation.
