Clear accountability is important. Without accountability, you don’t have incentives. Without accountability, you can’t build credibility. But you take risk. You take risk of failure. You take risk of humiliation. You take risk of failure under your own name.
Naval
People who take accountability, take risks. Trump is a perfect example of this. His name is everywhere in business and now in politics as well. He's been hugely successful but also has a lot of people hating on him. You have to take accountability to pluck the rewards. But when you fail, people will point their fingers at you.
If you have high accountability, you’re less replaceable and you can get a piece of the business.
Equity itself is a risk-based instrument. You get paid last. Employees get paid first. They get the most security but also just a little extra upside.
Next in line are debt holders, bankers or investors. Last, are equity holders. They take the largest risks, there might be nothing left after paying all the salaries. But they also have the opportunity to make the largest fortunes.
Embrace accountability. Society will reward you with leverage.
Naval
Other great examples of people who put their name out there and are wildly successful are Oprah, Kanye, Elon and Joe Rogan. They get rich just from having their name and be accountable for anything that happens under their name.
Of course, being in the public's eye has its consequences. If you can become anonymously rich, you won't have the downsides of being in the public eye and might end up being happier. But it will be hard, if impossible, to surpass the wealth of someone that takes public accountability.
Back in the day, taking accountability could mean death when failing. The code of Hammurabi is one of those examples. One of the inscriptions say that the architect of a building could be punished by death, if that building collapsed due to his fault.
Nowadays we don't have such punishments anymore. But we're still hard-wired not to fail in public. Those who can or are not afraid to fail in public can reap massive rewards. You can learn to overcome fear of failure.
Accountability and the book Skin in the game by Taleb go hand-in-hand. It's required reading.