Last time it was CrowdStrike. This time it is Amazon Web Services. Every time it happens, the story feels the same. A major outage occurs, millions are affected, and the immediate response is to find someone to blame.
When AWS went down, it was not just a technical failure. It disrupted payroll systems, e-commerce platforms, and internal tools across thousands of organizations. Flights were delayed, orders were lost, and operations froze. The instant narrative was that everything is connected, and in many ways, it is. But this level of interconnection has also created a habit of shifting responsibility toward whatever lies outside our control.
When CrowdStrike went down earlier this year, airlines and banks released statements explaining that they were affected by the “CrowdStrike outage.” When AWS failed, companies echoed the same language. “Due to the AWS outage, our systems are down.” These explanations may be true, but the mindset behind them is Below The Line®. It moves the focus away from what can be controlled and toward what cannot. That mindset does not create results; it creates dependency.
Accountability lives Above The Line®. It begins with results and focuses on the actions that drive them. When leaders and teams choose to go Above The Line, they stop reacting and start responding. They shift from asking why something happened to asking what else they can do.
At Culture Partners, we call this The Steps To Accountability®. See It. Own It. Solve It. Do It. These four steps are the foundation of a Culture of Accountability because they move individuals and organizations from blame to progress. Seeing it means acknowledging reality and seeking the perspectives of others. In this case, it means recognizing that outages happen in an interconnected world and that blaming another company does not restore trust. Owning it means taking responsibility for the next step, even when you did not cause the problem. Companies that said, “Here is what we are doing to support customers during this disruption,” demonstrated that mindset. They could not control AWS, but they could control how they responded. Solving it means asking, “What else can we do?” This question opens the door to innovation and collaboration rather than frustration. Doing it means following through and earning trust through action.
This same principle sits at the heart of Surrender to Lead. Surrendering to reality is not defeat. It is the beginning of leadership. It means accepting what is true and choosing to act from that place of clarity. The leader says, “This happened, and here is what we are going to do.” That moment of acceptance creates space for accountability and progress.
The AWS outage also exposed a deeper cultural issue. Reports surfaced that AWS had laid off a large portion of its DevOps team and replaced much of that work with artificial intelligence. Not long after, a viral post said exactly,
“AWS Just fired 40% of its devops team- then let AI take their jobs”
and a quote tweet underneath added,
“I wonder why AWS is down… oh…”
The comment was meant to be humorous, but it points to a serious question. When AI causes a problem, who is accountable? The person who coded it? The executive who approved it? The algorithm itself? As more organizations race to automate, accountability can easily disappear in the handoff between human and machine.
Above The Line thinking reminds us that accountability does not fade just because control shifts. It becomes even more vital. When responsibility is distributed across systems, someone still has to See It, Own It, Solve It, and Do It. The moment no one feels accountable, culture breaks down.
We cannot control every outage or failure, but we can control how we respond. Leaders who go Above The Line focus on what they can control, act quickly, and communicate clearly. They model accountability in real time and set the tone for how their teams respond under pressure. In a world where everything is connected, accountability is what keeps us grounded. When the cloud falls down, our response reveals whether our culture lives Above or Below The Line.
Next week, we will look closer at real-world AI failures that have already cost companies millions and explore how leaders can keep accountability alive when technology makes the wrong call.
Elsewhere In Culture
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/10/21/gen-z-workplace-emergencies
Gen Z isn’t rejecting work, they’re rejecting panic. Their resistance to the constant state of urgency is not a lack of ambition, it’s a demand for clarity. After entering the workforce during years of disruption and uncertainty, many are refusing to treat every message or project as a crisis. The phrase “It’s PR, not the ER” reflects a growing understanding that pressure does not equal productivity. They want to give their best effort without being consumed by false emergencies. They’re not opting out of work, they’re opting out of chaos.
This shift represents a move Above the Line®. It’s about choosing ownership instead of reaction, calm instead of chaos, and accountability instead of exhaustion. These young professionals are asking what can be controlled, what truly matters, and what outcomes deserve their focus. They’re reframing urgency around purpose and results rather than constant activity. When work is grounded in clarity, not panic, people perform better, collaborate more effectively, and build cultures that sustain both performance and well-being.
The conflict between Anthropic and the Trump administration’s AI advisors is more than a political disagreement. It is a test of accountability in an era when innovation often moves faster than ethics. When Dario Amodei says AI should be a force for human progress, not peril, he is not spreading fear. He is naming the responsibility that comes with power. Too often, leaders equate caution with weakness and speed with strength. Real accountability means slowing down long enough to ask what could go wrong and who could be affected. That is not resistance, it is leadership.
What is happening here is a reminder that culture determines how an organization navigates conflict. Amodei’s emphasis on policy over politics reflects a mindset that operates Above the Line®. It is a choice to act with ownership, to communicate transparently, and to align actions with principles even when doing so creates tension. The way a company handles disagreement reveals its culture more clearly than any mission statement. When leaders choose honesty and responsibility over reaction and rivalry, they build trust that lasts far beyond the news cycle.
Surrender to Lead is the book Joe Terry and I wrote to redefine what leadership really looks like. We have both seen how often leaders think strength means control, but it doesn’t. Real leadership starts when you let go. When you surrender your ego, your need to have all the answers, and your attachment to certainty, you create space for trust, accountability, and real results.
Preorders are now live. When you preorder, you’ll also receive three hundred dollars worth of exclusive leadership resources to help you apply these ideas in your own organization. Visit surrendertolead.com to preorder your copy today.