THIS is Great Leadership

A sad and significant story has been breaking over the last week in Ontario, my home province.  Contaminated prepared meats from a major Toronto company have caused a listeria outbreak that has killed 12 people and caused others to fall ill.  All the tainted product can be traced to a single company in Toronto, Maple Leaf Foods.

In chatting about it with Toni casually yesterday, I said I wouldn't be surprised if this was the end of Maple Leaf Foods.  They have been around for 100 years and are a major brand, but I was not sure they could recover from a problem this big.  Not only are they being sued in several class action suits, but I'm not sure consumers would ever trust the brand again.

This afternoon, I abruptly changed my mind.  The President of Maple Leaf Foods, Michael McCain, held a press conference and did something radical.  He didn't blame the government.  He didn't point fingers.  He didn't make excuses.  He didn't just apologize.

He assumed full responsibility for the situation.  He unapologetically said the buck stopped with him and his company.  They were to blame.  Check out what he said:

While this is the most unfortunate of events possible, I absolutely do not believe that this is a failure of the Canadian food safety system or the regulators.

Certainly knowing that there is a desire to assign blame, I want to reiterate that the buck stops right here.

So I emphasize this is our accountability ... and it's ours to fix, which we are taking on fully. We have and will continue to improve on our action plans and I'd like to give you an update on those plans as of this moment.

He then went on to articulate their action plan, including all they knew and didn't know as of today.  (If you want the full text of his comments, click here.)

I first heard about this in the car today on the radio, and I wanted to cheer.  In an age where few have the courage to stand up and accept blame and responsibility, Michael McCain did it. 

And an ironic thing happened: it made me want to buy Maple Leaf Food products.  It made want to trust his leadership.

When things go south, as they inevitably do at some point for all of us, the temptation is to sugar coat, ignore, blame, waffle, avoid or fail to admit what really happened.  The irony is the very thing we think will help us will actually hurt us.  And the very thing we are most afraid of - admitting the truth and accepting full responsibility - will ironically inspire confidence in others.

I say Kudos to McCain and Maple Leaf Foods.  How do you react to this?  How does this make you feel?  What personal lessons do you see in this?