Doing a Job (Responsibility and High Standards)
Delivered by Admiral Hyman G. Rickover ('Father of the Nuclear Navy') detailing the unyielding principles of personal responsibility, rigor, and technical standards.
Full Transcript
Responsibility is a unique concept. It can only reside and inhere in a single individual. You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished. You may delegate it, but it still remains with you.
If you are responsible for a job, you cannot blame your subordinates or your equipment or external conditions when things go wrong.
Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous impatience.
To do a job right, you must pay attention to every detail. In complex technical systems—whether a nuclear reactor or a human organization—a single neglected detail can lead to catastrophic failure.
High standards are not maintained by chance; they are enforced by constant vigilance, relentless self-scrutiny, and refusal to accept mediocrity.
Defining Key Excerpts
"Responsibility is a unique concept... You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished."
"Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous impatience."
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