The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability

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Summary: Oz Principle:Getting Results
Review: As someone who reads a lot of business books, this is one that I would not purchase again. I just read this book in 2003 and it may have been ground breaking when originally published in the mid 1990's. Much too simplistic for my taste. When it comes to execution, I liked Execution by Bossidy. If you are interested in accountability, I recommend The Responsibility Virus by Martin. If you like fictional business situations I prefer all of Lencioni's books.

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Summary: Funny thing...this really works!
Review: I was fortunate enough to be captivated by the title of this book when it first appeared in 1994. I read, enjoyed, and applied the principles of this book in my own professional and personal life. Before saying anything more, I strongly recommend this book to anyone who thinks there is room for improvement in their own life. If you believe you can be a better person by becoming more accountable for all your thoughts, feelings and actions, then you need to read this book. The concepts are not subject to the vagaries of time and society. They are simple truths and common sense.

Rereading the latest edition of The Oz Principle has helped cement its rightful place among "easy to read books that pack an impactful message."

The book follows a metaphor with which we are all familiar. This metaphor allows us all to see how easily we get caught in the role of the victim and how easily we play and perpetuate the blame game in our lives.

The Steps to Accountability are placed before the reader in a way that invites him or her to see a situation for what it really is, own his or her role in that situation, solve the challenges presented by the situation and then to finally proactively act on the situation and do whatever needs to be done.

I have recommended this book to hundreds of people over the years. I have yet to have anyone tell me it was a waste of time to read. Most of the time, people tell me how easy it was to read and grasp the concepts within it.

This is truly one of the few books that has proven its worth professionally and personally over time. I rank it among the top ten best books written on how to get the most out of life.

If you believe in personal integrity, if you believe in honor and virtue in the workplace and home, if you think there is room to improve and grow in your life, then this book is for you. You will always be accountable to yourself. Find out how to make the most of your time.

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Summary: Positive Progress!
Review: I was interested in what this book had to say up until reading of the examples which pertain very little to me or my work. Our company started the implementation process (yes, you can buy workbooks!) and I was startled by the lack of accountability this book encourages. The process of responsibility only goes up in this book, and the examples it provides deal primarily with management. The principles of feedback and coaching are important, but I can't see myself, a wage slave, being any more accountable than I already am. So if you're thinking of buying this book, buy it for yourself and don't foist it upon your company like my bosses did.

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Summary: Insightful!
Review: If you are looking for a simple guide to a complex business and career problem, preferably a guide based on children's literature, this is for you. The consultant authors believe that a "victim" culture, consisting mainly of refusal to accept accountability, is one of the gravest problems facing businesses in general and business people in particular. The victim culture stalls organizations and individual careers. Therefore, this book offers a guide to overcoming your personal victim culture through various self-help techniques, and to overcoming organizational victim cultures by related managerial practices. We understand and advocates personal and corporate accountability, the underlying theme of the book. And if the Oz metaphor is, perhaps, a little stretched here, just go with it. The advice is sound enough. Then, like Dorothy, the tin man, the lion and the scarecrow, you, too, can journey down the Yellow Brick Road to a magic kingdom where your every wish will be granted. What more can you ask for in a business book?

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Summary: Revised, Updated, and Invaluable
Review: In this revised and updated edition, the co-authors share with their reader what they have learned since their book was first published in 1994. Then and now, their objectives are the same: "...to help people become more accountable for their thoughts, feelings, actions, and results; and so that they can move their organizations to even greater heights. And, as they move along this always difficult and often frightening path, we hope that they, like Dorothy and her companions, discover that they really do possess the skills they need to do whatever their hearts desire."

In this volume, Connors, Smith, and Hickman invoke once again a core concept of a "Line" below which many (most?) people live much (most?) of the time. Theirs is the attitude of victimization: They get stuck on a "yellow brick road" by blaming others for their circumstances; they wait for "wizards" to wave their magic wands; and they expect all of their problems to disappear through little (if any) effort of their own.

What to do? Connors, Smith, and Hickman explain (step-by-step) how to Live Above the Line by assuming much greater accountability for whatever results one may desire. This can be achieved through a four-step process:

"See It": Recognize and acknowledge the full reality of a situation

"Own It": Accept full responsibility for one's current experiences and realities as well as others'

"Solve It": Change those realities by finding and implementing solutions to problems (often solutions not previously considered) while avoiding the "trap" of dropping back Below the Line when obstacles present themselves

"Do It": Summon the commitment and courage to follow through with the solutions identified, especially when there is great risk in doing so

How easy it is to summarize this four-step process...and how difficult it is to follow it to a satisfactory conclusion. (When composing brief commentaries such as this, I always fear trivializing important points.) Connors, Smith, and Hickman have absolutely no illusions about the barriers, threats, and challenges which await those who embark on this "journey" to accountability.

As they indicate in this new edition of their book, they have accumulated a wealth of information during the past decade which both illustrates and reconfirms the importance of making a personal choice to rise above one's circumstances and assume the ownership of what is required to achieve desired results. This is precisely what Theodore Roosevelt had in mind when praising "the man in the arena" and what W.E. Henley asserts in the final stanza of "Invictus":

"It matters not how straight the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul."

Organizations are human communities within which everyone involved must somehow balance personal obligations to themselves with obligations to others. For me, the interdependence of these obligations best illustrates the importance of the Oz Principle: "Accountability for results at the very core of continuous improvement, innovation, customer satisfaction, team performance, talent development and corporate governance movements so popular today." Connors, Smith, and Hickman go on to observe, "Interestingly, the essence of these programs boils down to getting people to rise above their circumstances and do whatever it takes (of course, within the bounds of ethical behavior) to get the results they want," not only for themselves but also for everyone else involved in the given enterprise.

Connors, Smith, and Hickman cite Winston Churchill's admonition, "First we shape our structures, and then our structures shape us." Were the Steps to Accountability easy to take, if everyone lived and labored Above the Line, there would be no need for this book. There is much of value to be learned from L. Frank Baum's account of the perilous journey which Dorothy and her companions share. What they finally realized -- and so must we -- is that, to paraphrase Pogo, "We have met the Wizard and he is us."

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Summary: Personal Accountability = Moving Beyond Excuses
Review: The book is written for you, the individual, to read and to contemplate. The intent is to help break the reader of the malaise of inaction, which often follows when obstacles to success abound in any endeavor. I found it enlightening and reinvigorating. Through a clever use of analogies to the Wizard of Oz characters, the book leads you to the conclusion that the ability and the authority required to achieve your goals are already within your grasp, just as the Oz characters already possessed their heart, courage, and brain prior to seeking the Wizard. Whether you are a contributor or manager, this book acknowledges that real obstacles exist to accomplishing any worthwhile goal, but points out that successful people and successful teams move beyond excuses and take action to solve their problems. In that regard, I must respectfully disagree with Mr. David Morgan's characterization that this book is a contradiction. The chapters guide you through a structured thinking process that helps you to separate real obstacles from perceived obstacles and to identify actions that will overcome the challenges you face. It also helps dissipate the feeling of powerlessness which inevitably accompanies a lack of progress towards a goal. That is, perhaps, the most empowering facet of the book. I highly recommend reading it.

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Summary: Shows how to harness the drive human nature
Review: The collaborative work of management consulting experts Roger Connors and Tom Smith, with the assistance of author Craig Hickman, The Oz Principles: Getting Results Through Individual And Organizational Accountability is now available in a substantially revised and newly updated edition. Drawing upon concepts, characters, and scenarios from the classic "The Wizard Of Oz" authors Roger Connors, Tom Smith, and Craig Hickman offer crucial lessons for facing the challenges of the modern business world. The importance of accountability, both individual and collective, cannot be understated; The Oz Principle shows how to harness the drive human nature to claim achievements and live up to greater heights for effective financial success.



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Summary: Who supports this?
Review: This would work a lot better if management supported it.
Nowadays you hear:
You have identified the problem, now go do something else.
We don't care what you think and if you don't like it you can tell my boss.
You get accused of making excuses when you don't have the support, position or authority to carry out the solution.
You get told not to question or ask why things are done this way.
You get an extreme negative reaction if you try to help define a successful process for everyone.(Someone feels threatened).
Etc...
Unless someone understands what is really going on and helps move things forward in a positive manner this just turns into a stick to hit an employee with, without positive results.

Probably a better book for this day and age is 'The Portable Coach'.

OZ may have a chance with good leadership and management. However that seems hard to find these days. Without good leadership and management, OZ is a fantasy land.

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Summary: Reversing cultures of fear, blame, avoidance and dependency.
Review: Using the Wizard or Oz as a metaphor, the authors convey the idea that a culture of victimization weakens people. The power to overcome victimization and achieve success lies within oneself. For an organization to succeed, employees must become willing to accept individual accountability. The book provides an approach to changing individual attitudes and shows how individuals can implement leadership and a culture of accountability in their own organization. Key action steps of the principle in taking accountability are: see it (the issue); decide to own it; personally work to solve it; and individually commit to do it. This book zeros in on a crucial issue offering a pragmatic approach that links individual and organizational success. The idea of a culture of accountability can be seen as the flip side of the all-to-common cultures of fear, blame, risk avoidance and dependency.