This is the last and fourth in a series of episodes about four-letter words. But don’t worry – this and all the other episodes carry a G rating. You can watch the other episodes here.

As the title of this post says, I am talking about the longest four-letter word. So technically, it’s not a four-letter word. But since this series is about “dirty” words, and we often think of dirty words as four-letter words, we are including it in this series.

The longest four-letter word is accountable. And I’m considering it a four-letter word here because most of the time when we hear it, it’s associated with things going wrong.

And as a leader, it’s up to us to change this bad association/assumption and help empower our team instead.

But this won’t happen overnight. We’ve heard this word used negatively for a long time and if we’re going to change its connotation, we must change the way we use it. You must not only use it when things are going badly, you must not only use it with the word “hold” in front of it.

Not I’m going to hold you accountable, but rather I’m going to help you be accountable. I’m going to help you take ownership. I’m going to help you be empowered. Changing it and using it carefully. Changing it and using it differently.

Check out the video below for even more tips on turning this four-letter word into positive action.



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Tweet it out: Accountability isn’t a dirty word – though some act like it is. Being accountable is simply taking ownership and responsibility. When we talk about it all the time – and not just when things go badly – people won’t think accountable is a dirty word after all. @KevinEikenberry

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Kevin Eikenberry is a recognized world expert on leadership development and learning and is the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group. He has spent over 30 years helping organizations across North America, and leaders from around the world, on leadership, learning, teams and teamwork, communication and more.

Twice he has been named by Inc.com as one of the Top 100 Leadership and Management Experts in the World and 100 Great Leadership Speakers for Your Next Conference. The American Management Association named him a “Leaders to Watch” and he has been twice named as one of the World's Top 30 Leadership Professionals by Global Gurus. Top Sales World has named him a Top Sales & Marketing Influencer several times, and his blog has been named on many “best of” lists. LeadersHum has named him one of the 200 Biggest Voices in Leadership in 2023.

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