Notes

The Oz Principle by Connors, Smith and Hickman - A Book Review
Title and Author: The Oz Principle by Roger Connors, Tom Smith and Craig Hickman

Synopsis of Content:

Accountability is commonly one of several essential elements of what is considered essential for organizational or individual success. The authors here take this one element and develop it fully. Their main point is that you cannot achieve much of anything without accountability. The Oz Principle, the bottom line is, is "an individual choice to rise above one's circumstances and demonstrate the ownership necessary for achieving desired results - to VIEW IT, BOUGHT IT, Solve It and TAKE ACTION."

The authors us the popular story of the Wizard of Oz being an allegory to describe the process of becoming accountable, both on an individual level and an organizational level.

The process involves four primary steps: first to see the problem and the context. This consists of eliminating denial about how exactly bad things may be and recognizing both the depth of the problem and the opportunities which may exist.

The second step is to own it, that is to stop making all the excuses that folks make, such as there is not enough time, it is not my job, no one has trained me, etc, also to take responsibility for getting a solution.

The third step is to solve it, that is, to find a solution. This implies determining what you can do to solve the issue. It may also include how one can involve others in solving the problem.

The final step would be to do it. Implementing the answer through immediate action is essential to be accountable.

The book is set contrary to the backdrop of the failures in character and accountability that rang through the news media in the late 1990s and early 2000s with nov Enron along with other large corporations because of greed and irresponsible conduct. The book first came out in 1994 and was again revised in 2004. Most of the examples in the book of real life accountability successes and failures are therefore from the 1980s and 1990s. The book came out before a number of the tragic events after 2004 and another update will be justified.

Much more important however than the historical context of the book are the real life lessons it offers. The idea of genuine personal accountability and responsibility are talked about a lot these days but may not be practiced much. This book does an outstanding job of identifying the ways we avoid accountability, the purchase price we pay for doing this, & most importantly the ways we can become accountable and how this will make us and our organizations far more successful and effective.

This book is approximately being effective. It is about being in charge of your personal success and abandoning the defeating behaviors that we all are tempted to use to avoid accountability. This is the quite crucial book teaching a quite crucial lesson. It should be required reading in every family and company in the nation.

Readability/Writing Quality:

This book is quite readable. It is filled up with true to life examples from business showing how accountability, or having less it, plays such a critical role. While I did so not personally find the Wizard of Oz comparisons very helpful for many they might be. The book follows a well-organized logic and each chapter builds on the last ones.

Notes on Author:

The authors head up a firm called Partners in Leadership, Inc. which gives training services. They operate in 56 nations all over the world. They will have also written other books. Roger Connors and Tom Smith wrote Journey to the Emerald City and How Did That Happen? Craig Hickman wrote Creating Excellence and Mind of a Manager, Soul of a Leader.

Three Great Ideas You Can Use:

1. You can respond to problems by blaming outside causes or other folks. You can develop all sorts of excuses for why you should not be in charge of solving the problem. Or, if you need to be effective, you can abandon the excuses and go above the Line to becoming accountable. Accountable people function above this line, they don't make excuses, they look for solutions.

2. Making excuses and limiting our accountability are well learned skills for most people. It takes many practice and diligence to move beyond the excuse stage, or the below the Line stage, and begin to focus on finding and implementing solutions. It is useful to have a pal or associate remind you each time you fall below that line and begin to again make excuses.

3. The accountability which makes individuals more effective can be put on teams, groups and entire organizations. The more an organization seeks to resolve problems rather than lay blame the more effective it will become.

Publication Information:

The Oz Principle by Roger Connors, Tom Smith and Craig Hickman

Rating because of this Book: Excellent

Daniel R. Murphy writes on personal development, leadership skills, time management and how you can build wealth and financial independence.

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