How Was This My Fault? and Why That Question Saves Your Business?

Today I push one question for every business problem: “How was this my fault?” I take a stoic approach. I cannot control other people or outside events, but I can control my response and what I do next. I use rain as an example. Yelling at the sky does nothing, but planning for rain and adjusting does. I apply the same thinking when a client calls angry because an employee made a mistake. If I yell back, I lose the job and any referrals. If I take responsibility, I can fix the system. This is not about beating myself up. It is about ownership so I can improve. I walk through four areas to diagnose the real issue: clarity, communication, constraints, and capability. I talk with the employee, ask what they thought I meant, and look for missing tools, missing info, or missing skill. I drop the “should” mindset, remove ego, and use humility to correct the process so the problem does not repeat in 2026.