Adam is a joke. And, according to Greg Shepherd, Adam will only have to tell him "Gee, boss, I should have called a 5 minute on Paukovich. I'll do better next year" and Greg will reply "That's ok Don. You did the best you could do."
If reality were a factor, let's say business is the issue, let's see what happens. Big business meeting and Don Adam, the chief sales associate allows things to get out of hand and it costs the company integrity, face, and a bunch of money. He goes to the CEO and says "Gee boss, I'm sorry I did that. I screwed up. It won't happen next time." What do you think the CEO would say? He wouldn't pat Don on the back and say "Better luck next time. We didn't need that money anyways." He'd demote or fire Don Adam. This is the big difference between reality and Greg's accountability system.