This was used by a beloved undergrad professor of mine at UMass. It’s a fun parable on leadership, lessons from which I think of often.
This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job.
Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it.
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.
— Unknown author of condensed version of A Poem About Responsibility by Charles Osgood.