Responsibility

Character in many ways is everything in leadership.  It is made up of many things, but I would say character is really integrity.  When you delegate something to a subordinate, for example, it is absolutely your responsibility, and he must understand this.  You as a leader must take complete responsibility for what the subordinate does.  I once said, as a sort of wisecrack, that leadership consists of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well.

-- Dwight David Eisenhower (1890 - 1969), American soldier and politician, 34th President of the United States, as quoted in Nineteen Stars : a Study in Military Character and Leadership 1971) by Edgar F. Puryear Jr.