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37 reviews for:
The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability
Tom Smith, Craig Hickman, Roger Connors
3.0 AVERAGE
37 reviews for:
The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability
Tom Smith, Craig Hickman, Roger Connors
3.0 AVERAGE
I think there were some good points made in The Oz Principle. People could learn to become more accountable for their own actions, and this would likely improve work atmospheres in a lot of companies. However, I think this book does swerve too far into the thought process of ‘focus on all the things you are doing wrong, never blame anyone else for their wrongdoings’. This is addressed toward the end of the book with the car crash analogy, but I feel that this wasn’t given as much attention as it perhaps deserved.
I will be taking parts of this book into my work moving forward, but I will take its teachings with a grain of salt.
I will be taking parts of this book into my work moving forward, but I will take its teachings with a grain of salt.
This book feels dated. While the principles of accountability were certainly good I'm not sure it needed to be explained in 250+ pages and shoehorned into the Wizard of Oz analogy.
The book seemed not to understand how systemic issues work. There were just too many examples given of people who were victimized in an almost dismissing/mocking way: Here's a guy who is mad at fast food for making him unhealthy (there are legitimately people who, because of living situation, transportation, work schedule, and the community they live in, are unable to access anything other than fast food). Here's a woman who feels like she's not rising as fast as she could in the business world because she's a woman and puts time into caring for her children (um...that's a thing).
The solution always provided was "be accountable, own that you're probably doing something wrong, and work to change it". To be clear there are many situations where that definitely will help, and at the end of the day sometimes individual accountability is all we can do, but to ignore the fact that some people can't make change smarts a little bit too much of meritocracy than I was cool with.
The book seemed not to understand how systemic issues work. There were just too many examples given of people who were victimized in an almost dismissing/mocking way: Here's a guy who is mad at fast food for making him unhealthy (there are legitimately people who, because of living situation, transportation, work schedule, and the community they live in, are unable to access anything other than fast food). Here's a woman who feels like she's not rising as fast as she could in the business world because she's a woman and puts time into caring for her children (um...that's a thing).
The solution always provided was "be accountable, own that you're probably doing something wrong, and work to change it". To be clear there are many situations where that definitely will help, and at the end of the day sometimes individual accountability is all we can do, but to ignore the fact that some people can't make change smarts a little bit too much of meritocracy than I was cool with.
Overall this provides good practice, that at least to personally or internally help keep from getting stuck in a negative spiral. Overall I think there is an oversimplification on the value of this being really a value for an organization by getting everyone to but into taking on these behaviors and to get all your leadership to support and adopt this methodology. Without that group adoption, you will still run into a wall because you will only be able to address yourself and take it so far. This presents some good and positive behaviors. The real value here lies in getting larger groups within an organization to adopt these practices.
From an individual perspective, I have already started getting value out of this book compared to a lot of other similar business books that I have read.
From an individual perspective, I have already started getting value out of this book compared to a lot of other similar business books that I have read.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
reflective
slow-paced
These authors are big on victim blaming and love excusing corporations for exploiting their employees.
slow-paced
I read this book for work but ended up liking it a ton. Accountability is a very important concept and the book does a great job showing how to have more of it, but mostly from a job or business perspective rather than a personal one. But even with that angle, the book still teaches great ideas using fun stories mostly taken from actual business consulting. It might take readers a bit more work to apply the principles beyond the business or job ideas the book presents, but doing that while reading through the book would definitely be worthwhile.
I'm not usually big on business books. I often find that they try to push their "bigger-better idea" over common sense. This book, The Oz Principle, seems to push common sense over the bigger-better deal. It realizes that by depending on someone else's methodology to get results, one basically enables a new scapegoat when it fails. Instead, this book says to throw out the scapegoat, stop whining and realize personal accountability AND potential - and that combination is important. This is one of the few business books that I haven't rolled my eyes at, and I am willing to give these ideas a try.
I agree with much of what this book says, but think the presentation was poor. I despise the use of the term, "victim" or "victim mentality". That phrase reeks of early 80-90s Republican mentality. I do believe in personal responsibility and think, especially in work, that one should always ask, "what can we do," rather than, "who can we blame?" A while back I realized that anything that goes wrong in my department is my responsibility. Even if it is someone else who actually made the mistake. Even if they did it without my permission, the responsibility lies with me. I should have made my position clearer, or spelled out exactly what I wanted. The reason for this is that by laying blame, you don't have to find a REAL solution. It's Jim's fault, yell at Jim, move on. But that doesn't solve the problem. If Jim didn't know that I don't want anyone doing X, then how do I know Carol isn't under that same mistaken assumption?
That is essentially what this book is about. Take responsibility. But by using the terminology "victim mentality", they turned me off over and over again. The podcast "Manager Tools" discussed this same thing in a way that was more accessible. They called it, "owning the inputs". This was specifically for delegating tasks. If you delegate a task to Jim, and Jim doesn't deliver, it's your fault, not Jim's. It's your responsibility to make sure Jim delivers. Every person who has a responsibility in your project is YOUR responsibility. If Hickman has used some emotionally neutral phrase like, "own the inputs", I would highly recommend this book. Since he didn't, I recommend "Manager Tools" and several of the other management books out there.
That is essentially what this book is about. Take responsibility. But by using the terminology "victim mentality", they turned me off over and over again. The podcast "Manager Tools" discussed this same thing in a way that was more accessible. They called it, "owning the inputs". This was specifically for delegating tasks. If you delegate a task to Jim, and Jim doesn't deliver, it's your fault, not Jim's. It's your responsibility to make sure Jim delivers. Every person who has a responsibility in your project is YOUR responsibility. If Hickman has used some emotionally neutral phrase like, "own the inputs", I would highly recommend this book. Since he didn't, I recommend "Manager Tools" and several of the other management books out there.
Basic premise: don't be a victim but take hold of your situation and ask what you can do to improve it. I'm not sure the book adds a whole lot of detail beyond that simple statement, but it pretends to. Lots of vague examples of companies and business people who were sinking then choose to stop complaining and start fixing and "voila!" their business turned around. Each section begins with a quote from [a:Frank L. Baum|3242|L. Frank Baum|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1383720421p2/3242.jpg]'s book [b:The Wizard of Oz|762677|The Wizard of Oz (Great Illustrated Classics)|Deidre S. Laiken|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387746123s/762677.jpg|14816545] to illustrate that just like Dorothy, The Scarecrow, the Tinman, and The Lion, you have what you need inside you to solve your problems. You don't need a wizard to change your circumstances, just a Good Witch like Glinda perhaps to guide you on your way. A bit gimmicky, because they don't really borrow too much from the classic story, but it got me to read the book, so I guess it works (as a gimmick).
All the examples are very business-world, not so identifiable for me.
All the examples are very business-world, not so identifiable for me.