The Oz Principle, by Roger Conners, et al

I have read The Oz Principle several times over the years.  It simply and effectively isolates personal accountability as the key factor in personal and organizational success.  The power of this book is the "stickiness" of the concepts.  The authors enhance an old idea of being "Above the Line" or "Below the Line".  Below the line we engage in the blame game.  We ignore the reality of issues and opportunities, we avoid them, we blame others for them, etc.  Above the Line, we "See It" - we see the situation and our real ability to influence or change either that situation or its impact on us.  We "Own It" - we own our opportunity to be an agent in changing the outcomes of the challenge - either how it plays out, or at least how we will respond to it.  We "Solve It" - we find solutions.  And finally, we "Do It" - we implement the solutions.

We are not bad, mean, or evil, if we go below the line, we are just unproductive.  The goal is to recognize when we are below the line more quickly, and then take the "Steps to Accountability" - we See It, Own It, Solve It, and Do It.

The "Results Pyramid" is also a powerful visual and simple to understand and communicate.  The Oz Principle is largely about the individual.  The next book by the authors, Change the Culture, Change the Game, deals with the power of this principle throughout an organization.  Their latest book, How Did That Happen? sorts through how to hold others accountable.  All three are powerful books that help us learn the art of accountability that does not include beating each other up when things go wrong.

All three are highly recommended reads!

The Anatomy of Peace, by the Arbinger Group

This can be a life-changing book!  It is a companion novel to Leadership and Self-Deception, and equally life-changing tome.  The story of the novel is easy to read and gently induces you to be extremely introspective about your perception of your virtue.

The bottom line: you can "do" things to improve situations or relationships, but if your heart is at war with others in the equation you are trying to improve, you will fail.  If your heart is at peace, your chances for success in working effectively with others is dramatically enhanced.  This is a very shallow description of a deeply impactful book that I STRONGLY recommend you read!

Influencer, by the good people of VitalSmarts

One of the books I have really found impactful is Influencer by Patterson, Grenny, Maxfield, McMillan, and Switzler.  This group of authors work together at VitalSmarts, the company that produced Crucial Conversations that I discussed early on this blog.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, and a video must be worth many more, here is a "trailer" for the book that came out several years ago before the book did.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4g_xxguWzI

As you see referenced there, across the world there have been many cases of successful change.  The areas of change researched include rehabilitation of inmates, eradication of widespread and deadly disease, and smaller scale change as well.  The authors identify six sources of influence and explain how these don't work in isolation.  Rather they show how to use them in concert to produce needed change.

I strongly recommend this book and all of the VitalSmarts-produced videos and articles related to it.

Theory of Constraints Novels

I was first exposed to the Theory of Constraints while working at BHP on a project in Oakland, CA, during the late 1990's.  I read The Goal and was smitten by it.  Using a story format to teach a powerful principle seemed brilliant.  I still view it as such.

The very short version of the Theory of Constraints is that in your organization you need to identify the one bottleneck that is truly holding you back.  Often we thrash about making improvements in non-bottleneck areas and then are surprised when results do not improve.  Each of the following novels I have read and recommend every one of them to you!  Each is set in a different industry with different challenges:

The Goal
Necessary But Not Sufficient
We All Fall Down
It's Not Luck
Critical Chain

And, a new favorite by Michael Dalton, Simplifying Innovation, moves the discussion from production, to innovation - really to getting the right product mix and priorities.  These are fairly quick reads, but each is very educational and the concepts are powerful!