"A leader falls on his sword for his team if and when needed."
I like this. It also reminded me of a lesson I learned when reading Maj. Richard Winters' memoirs: a good leader leads from the front. First one in, last one out.
Strange comparison. If you look at the leaders in WWII (Churchill, Eisenhower, Hitler, Stalin, etc), none of them were at the front. Generals generally aren't either. Its direct leaders such as corporals and sergeants who are leading from the front; not officers. As comparison: the direct leaders would be CTO, division leaders, or direct managers.
Political leaders don't lead troops. They lead department heads in decision making. In that field, good ones operate the same way: leading from the front, showing willingness to take risk on themselves, supporting their direct reports as needed.
Similarly, Generals don't (usually) lead troops. They lead company commanders.
But Ballmer didn't fall on his sword; he just apologised, to people who had no ability to punish him for the mistake which he claimed as his.
If you receive an apology from someone several levels above where the mistake was made, I don't think it means much. You end up with no reassurance that anything is being done to stop it happening again.
The bank could have abandoned Microsoft products. They could have sued Microsoft. Blaming one's underlings is a sign of weakness. Blaming the customer would be a disaster.
For an awful lot of people, apologizing and taking responsibility for an error is very difficult. People will go to ridiculous lengths to avoid doing so, coming up with ever more complicated explanations as to why they are blameless.
Apologizing and taking responsibility is a sign of good character, not a sign of weakness.
Case in point: antennagate and Jobs' attempt to blame the users for holding the phone wrong.
Good luck filling your organization with people who won't take any responsibility and look for scapegoats. Me, I prefer "the buck stops here" people working for me.
I like this. It also reminded me of a lesson I learned when reading Maj. Richard Winters' memoirs: a good leader leads from the front. First one in, last one out.