Do your leaders pass the mirror test? : It's time to take responsibility and end the blame game

Purpose – This paper aims to encourage human resource (HR) specialists to challenge leaders to take responsibility for areas of underperformance in their organizations rather blaming others or circumstances. It also aims to argue that, by learning from their experiences, leaders can become stronger and fitter. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on the author's personal experience of leadership roles in multinational corporations and as a consultant working with small and medium‐size enterprises and corporate clients. Findings – The paper concentrates on three areas for leaders to examine: how their strengths can become weaknesses; how they can miss seemingly obvious things; and how they handle people‐management issues. Practical implications – The paper suggests actions for leaders and HR specialists to mitigate the impact of the areas reviewed, such as increasing self‐awareness, including linking any tools such as 360‐degree feedback to a leader's personal examples, building diverse networks of contacts and dealing with any people issues in a systematic way. Social implications – The paper combines observations from more than 25 years of experience in diverse organizations and roles. Originality/value – The paper targets leaders and HR specialists with an interest in developing leaders.