I heard about this book the Entreleadership podcast. Dave Ramsey requires anyone who comes on staff with him to read this book. After reading, I know why.
The book is an extremely short and easy read, but has an incredibly powerful lesson in it: Personal accountability. If this book will help you do anything, it will help you grasp the concept, “If it’s to be, it’s up to me.”
It will take away all of the excuses you’re currently using to not produce in the workplace. This book really challenged me to recognize that no matter where I am in the organization, I am responsible to produce and I am responsible to make the organization thrive regardless of what others do, regardless if I have a poor manager or not, and really . . . regardless of anything.
This book is worth reading for yourself, and it’s definitely worth passing on to your team and discussing the concepts over and over and over again. It is a principle we all need to build our lives on.
Some Highlights:
- Life is simply more satisfying and enjoyable for those who choose the way of personal accountability.
- The idea that we are accountable for our own choices and are free to make better ones is fundamental to the QBQ
- There’s not a chance we’ll reach our full potential until we stop blaming each other and start practicing personal accountability. “What can I do today to solve the problem?” “How can I help move the project forward?” “What action can I take to ‘own’ the situation?”
- Ownership: “A commitment of the head, heart, and hands to fix the problem and never again affix the blame.” Have you made that commitment?
- Managers don’t change people. They can coach, counsel, teach, and guide, but no one changes another person. Change only comes from the inside, as a result of decisions made by the individual.
- People’s minds fill with all kinds of ideas when asked what they would change to improve things. But guess what? Nobody ever says “Me!” “I would change me to make our organization run more effectively.”
- Leadership, more than anything else, is about the way we think. It’s a moment-to-moment disciplining of our thoughts. It’s about practicing personal accountability and choosing to make a positive contribution, no matter what our role or “level.”
