Why Is Society Satisfied To Blame Leadership?
A principal was fired after a janitor intentionally left a gas valve open. I believe this case illustrates a common issue we face as a society regarding the tendency to blame leadership.
About two years ago, custodian Jay Riley Kostermans switched on two gas valves in the chemistry lab of Hardin Valley Academy (HVA). During police interrogation, Kostermans admitted to doing so intentionally. He was fired and prosecuted (but found not guilty by a plea of insanity).
Despite the noticeable smell of natural gas, the school didn’t evacuate until a few hours had passed. Then, a few hours after that, parents were finally notified to pick up their children. Parents were understandably not happy with how this incident was handled.
Principal, Rob Speas, admitted to making a mistake which caused this delay: “While trying to work quickly as we evacuated… I failed to click the override button that would have pushed all messages to send immediately.”
Parents argued that Speas failed to follow emergency procedures and questioned his leadership. He was put on administrative leave by the board and is no longer the principal of HVA. While he did make a mistake, I don’t think firing Speas was an effective corrective action.
For starters, this was an incredibly unfamiliar and stressful situation. While we do want leadership that can maintain their composure under pressure, everyone makes mistakes.
The interface of this communication system deserves further investigation. Why does this interface require additional clicks, an override, for something as time-sensitive as an evacuation? Why does this process fall entirely on one person – the principal?
Furthermore, firing Speas does not prevent a recurrence. As far as I know, the gas valves were untouched after this investigation: no locks, no alarms, no safeguards.
We see this song and dance all the time. As soon as a major incident occurs, the board throws someone off the leadership team and calls it a day:
- Removing Anheuser-Busch’s CMO did not undo the damage done to the brand.
- Firing the CEO of JetBlue did not fix its risk-analysis problems.
- Putting this principal on administrative leave after an unprecedented sabotage fixes nothing.
Instead of hunting heads, we should be calling for systematic enhancements. How can we strengthen the procedures, standards, training, enforcement, management systems, and culture to prevent and catch mistakes so that we don’t have to punish well-intended workers?
The Essence of Performance Improvement session in the Improvement Track at the Global TapRooT® Summit will highlight exactly how to investigate systems instead of individuals. Learn more about the Improvement Program Best Practices Track at the Summit and join me, October 1 – 3, 2025, Knoxville, Tennessee.
Have you ever seen someone unfairly take the fall for the company? Let me know what you think in the comments
