There was a time I thought taking responsibility meant standing in front of a crowd and saying, “I’m sorry.”
Now I know that was the easy part.
The real weight of responsibility isn’t public.
It’s not performative.
It’s private.
It’s what you choose to own when the cameras are off, the headlines fade, and the people you let down have stopped waiting for you to show up at all.
Radical responsibility isn’t about guilt.
It’s not about punishment.
It’s about reclaiming every single decision you made, especially the ones that broke things.
It’s about saying,
“This mess? It’s mine. And so is what I build from it.”
What Radical Responsibility Looks Like in Real Life
1. The Chocolate Factory Fiasco
Let’s start where most people started watching.
The Willy’s Chocolate Experience.
Yes, it failed.
Yes, it was public.
Yes, people were angry. And they had every right to be.
What people didn’t see was how I used radical responsibility to walk through the fire instead of around it.
Instead of saying, “It got out of hand,” I said,
“I over-promised and under-delivered. I thought I could pull it off, and I couldn’t.”
I didn’t blame the venue.
I didn’t shift it to the team.
I didn’t point at the AI.
I sat in it.
Owned it.
And let that truth rewire the way I build everything from that point on.
Now, every project starts with real questions.
Do I have the structure?
Am I doing this because I can deliver it, or because I want to be seen a certain way?
Is this about creation, or is it about control?
That’s what radical responsibility looks like.
It stings.
But it gives you your integrity back.
2. The Conviction and the Sentence
Another chapter people whisper about is my conviction for sending “Explicit messages” to a former partner.
I won’t hide it.
I won’t water it down.
I was in emotional freefall.
I was clinging to something that had already ended.
And I crossed lines I shouldn’t have crossed.
That’s not about intent.
That’s about impact.
I pled guilty.
I accepted the consequences.
I showed up to every hour of supervision.
And I stayed in the process of looking hard at myself.
Not just to get through the sentence, but to understand the behaviour underneath it.
Radical responsibility means not turning away.
Not just from what you did, but from who you were when you did it.
And then making sure that person doesn’t show up again.
3. My Daughter, My Absence, and My Accountability
The hardest place to apply this principle has been in my role as a father.
I haven’t been present the way I should have.
There now are birthdays I missed.
Phone calls I should have made.
Moments I ruined by not being ready.
I could blame the system.
I could blame my past.
I could blame the backlash.
But none of that makes her feel seen.
Radical responsibility means saying,
“No, I wasn’t there. That’s on me.”
And then doing everything I can to become someone she might be proud of later.
She doesn’t need perfect.
She needs truth.
And I intend to give her nothing less.
What Radical Responsibility Is Not
It’s not about self-hatred.
It’s not about begging.
It’s not about walking around with your head down forever.
It’s the opposite.
It’s about claiming your power back by removing every excuse.
It’s about saying,
“If I broke it, I’ll own it. If I want to heal it, I’ll work for it.”
You don’t have to hate who you were.
But you do have to answer for it.
And you do that by becoming someone new in the choices you make now.
How I Practice It Now
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I check in with myself and my circle every day
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I write down my triggers and sit with them instead of acting on them
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I don’t hide from the money I owe, the people I hurt, or the silence I caused
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I don’t let anyone speak for me, but I don’t use my voice to run from truth either
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I build everything slower, clearer, and with a deeper understanding of responsibility
Final Thought
If you’ve messed up
If you’ve burned it all down
If people no longer believe you
It doesn’t start with making them believe.
It starts with radical responsibility.
Not public.
Private.
Not loud.
True.
Not once.
Daily.
If you’re brave enough to say,
“This was mine,”
you earn the right to say,
“So is what comes next.”
And what comes next might just be something worth building.
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