When I was young "taking accountability" meant for me to admit my faults, apologise for it, ask another person for forgiveness by showing humility and trying to do things which can help to undo the damage done before.
However, I think I've come to the realisation that this is not what most people understand as "taking accountability". It seems that what most people want to happen when someone takes accountability is to lose their job and ideally become unemployable by anyone for as long as possible. It almost feels like that "taking accountability" needs to result in the person suffering themselves so that other people can get gratification and satisfaction from it. The other thing I noticed though is that even when someone does lose everything as a result of their wrongdoings and they visibly suffer, the people who asked for the suffering still have no interest in ever showing forgiveness. It's some absurd dark form of Schadenfreude.
What does "taking accountability" actually mean for people on this forum? Many tech leaders in the past and many of us will face situation where people will call for us to take accountability for some mistakes we might have made at some point in our lives. How do you prepare for it?
This is extremely context-dependent. It's easy to switch the exceptions with the rule, especially since a lot of media personalities benefit by swapping those around.
What you should do if the situation arises for you personally is definitely not the martyr thing that a lot of "good" people end up doing when they perceive that life isn't fair. Not only is it a withdrawal from executive function, but it's a withdrawal to subjectivity so it will automatically look self-centered even if you are throwing yourself under the bus. Be really careful about making quick decisions at times like that.
There's also no general rule that applies everywhere. And for good reason--context and details really matter and they can help you out of a mistake.
People want to forgive, however they will always look for social or informational signals to derive conclusions. For every person who wants somebody fired because of perceived insensitivity, there's another person who wants someone fired because of perceived lack of education or expertise. Knowing which is which can help you navigate the situation and understand the broader discussion.
You'll find pretty amazing exceptions to the issue, even corporate teams that go to great lengths to provide cover and anonymity so that a good result can be achieved for all involved, including the one blamed for the problem. But by its nature that kind of example will never get as many retweets.
Overall I'd be really careful not to prepare yourself for future mistakes by referencing the world at large and especially any headlines or social shares or retweets. Usually it's a much different situation with more leverage on your end than you'd think.
Nobody actually respects those who do so, but rather your supporters have a harder time defending you.
Don't get me wrong, I will hand out meaningless apologies (I will give you a sincere sounding apology, but nothing will prevent me from behaving that way in the future) like crazy, but that's all I will do.
The reality is that as long as you can outlast your enemies willingness to be angry, you can win.