There are lots of things they don’t teach you when you become a boss or a manager, and these are usually the highly unpleasant or unmentionable tasks that you only face when times get really tough.

Today’s lesson is about taking responsibility, accepting blame, doing what’s right for the greater good of the organization—in other words, knowing when to fall on your sword.

Although there is always a good time to leave a job (and knowing when the time is right), I’m not talking about simply leaving because you have done all you set out to do, or maybe because you have stayed on too long. No, I’m talking about falling on your sword and leaving in the classic and traditional business sense—because you are taking responsibility for something bad that happened on your watch, under your leadership, regardless of whether it was really your fault or not.

That’s what British House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin did this week, becoming “the first holder of the prestigious position to be ousted in more than 300 years,” according to The New York Times.

Why is Martin falling on his sword? According to The Lede blog in The New York Times, “The speaker had been widely criticized for his failure to respond appropriately to the revelation that many members of Parliament have been abusing their taxpayer-financed expense allowances for items like moat clearing and porn.”

And, according to the Times story, “For some, Martin was a scapegoat for the squirming embarrassment of legislators of all major [British] political parties caught in a cascade of disclosures in The Daily Telegraph newspaper about their spending under an official program that allows members of Parliament to defray the costs of maintaining homes in London and in their home districts. But for others he was held responsible for blocking disclosures of financial abuse and for stonewalling reforms from his leather chair dominating the benches of the House of Commons.”

In the British parliamentary system, the speaker of the House of Commons is expected to act as a “politically neutral politically neutral referee of the often freewheeling debates in the Parliament’s lower house” rather than as a political leader. Still, the British speaker helps to set the tenor and tone for the larger debate, and the fact that Speaker Martin seemed to be taking a position against a free and open debate about these embarrassing disclosures is what made his position untenable.

Yes, Martin had to go, but some think that he might not have gone without a lot of political pressure being brought to bear from people like British Prime Minster Gordon Brown. Like so many American executives who also dug in their heels despite driving their organizations into the ground recently, Martin tried to avoid what was painfully obvious to everyone else—that only his going would truly help everyone to deal with the issue and get past the problem.

This is a hard concept for just about any manager or executive to accept, because most believe that their presence can greatly help to resolve whatever issue is on the table. It’s tough for anyone to believe that they are standing in the way of a solution—like former CEO Rick Wag0ner at General Motors—and that’s why it sometimes takes outside pressure before they can really see the light.

Yes, doing the right thing can be tough, but tougher yet is knowing WHEN to do the right thing and being willing to accept the consequences of falling on one’s sword.

Generally speaking, if you have to be told or urged to go, it’s probably too late.
Martin finally saw the light and did what he needed to do. He couldn’t lead anymore, and falling on his sword made sense, although it could have been worse.

As The Guardian newspaper noted: “It may be of some consolation to Martin that he will not face the fate of the seven speakers before 1560 who were beheaded. Another one was murdered.”

Yes, despite the rough-and-tumble world we live in, some business practices have improved over the past 450 years.

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