About Us Our Books & CD's The Executive Team Articles Media Coverage Employment Opportunities Contact Us The Oz Principle® Accountability Training® The Oz Principle Public Workshop Cultural Transition Process® Executive Team Development 360° Accountability Feedback Process® Speaker's Forum eSeminar Train the Facilitator Certification Program Keynote Speakers and Speeches Client Successes Partial Client List Online Catalog Online Previews Login AFP Login Assessment Login Inside Flap Text Originally Published Ten Years Ago, The Oz Principle was the groundbreaking work that demonstrated the vital role of accountability in the achievement of business results and the improvement of both individual and organizational performance. With more than 300,000 copies sold, The Oz Principle has emerged as one of the most influential and useful business ideas of recent times.     Now in this new hardcover edition, fully revised with updated material, new success stories, and a decade's worth of learning, The Oz Principle has become even more vital to anyone charged with obtaining results. It is a "must have," "must read," and "must apply" business book.     The Oz Principle changed the fate of hundreds of companies because it works! People want to be accountable. Taking ownership of a business is exciting. So is improved performance. That's why accountability has become a core management value for thousands of organizations throughout the world. No company can afford a lack of accountability - not one! Table of Contents Preface v Acknowledgements vii Part 1 The Oz Principle: Getting Results through Accountability Chapter 1: Off to See the Wizard: Searching for Greater Accountability in Business 3 Chapter 2: The Yellow Brick Road: Getting Stuck in the Victim Cycle 18 Chapter 3: There's No Place Like Home: Focusing on Results Part 2 The Power of Individual Accountability: Moving Yourself Above The Line® Chapter 4: The Lion: Mustering the courage to See It® 67 Chapter 5: The Tin Woodsman: Finding the Heart to Own It® 87 Chapter 6: The Scarecrow: Obtaining the Wisdom to Solve It® 111 Chapter 7: Dorothy: Exercising the Means to Do It® 132 Part 3 Results Through Collective Accountability: Helping Your Organization Perform Above the Line Chapter 8: The Good Witch Glinda: Mastering Above The Line Leadership 157 Chapter 9: The Emerald City and Beyond: Getting your Entire Organization Above the Line 175 Chapter 10: Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Applying Oz Principles to the Toughest Issues in Business Today 196 Overview of Journey to the Emerald City 223 The Oz Principle® Accountability Training 225 Index 227 Preface We think that most people would agree that the need for more accountable organizations, teams, and individuals has done nothing but grow since The Oz Principle® was first published ten years ago. Who can deny the business case for making accountability a core ingredient in any corporate culture? People who take accountability and operate Above The Line® always make things happen in organizations. With a company full of accountable people, extraordinary things, even the entirely unexpected, tend to happen.     We have been gratified to see and experience the impact of The Oz Principle over the last ten years. Time and time again, we have been reminded that accountability produces results as we have added up the shareholder value, increased profits, decreased costs, and productivity gains from clients and others who have successfully implemented greater accountability in their organizations. In addition to increased financial performance we have also witnessed improved morale as people come to love their jobs more, learn to cope more capably with daily obstacles, and get the results they want.     The way The Oz Principle has influenced the personal lives of our readers and clients has moved us deeply. Their unsolicited testimonials demonstrate that The Oz Principle works as much magic in our personal life as in our business life. While greater accountability may not cure all the world's ills, it does provide a sturdy foundation on which you can build long-lasting solutions.     Businesses all over the world have moved to new ground - downsizing, flattening, empowering, team working, liberating, knowledge basing, networking, quality imbuing, continuously improving, process mapping, transforming, and reengineering. For some companies the gains have proved remarkable. For many others, however, the bewildering array of current success formulas, both theoretical and practical, seem overwhelming or foolish as they fail to accomplish the promised results. To our minds, what all the fads and bandwagon programs fail to address is that one essential ingredient is missing from the mix: the fact that results come from people who accept accountability for achieving them. Accountability. Without it, no program can succeed; with it, any program can accomplish even more than its promoters promise.     We've seen it over and over again. Whether it is a company on the most-admired list or an organization languishing and on the brink of failure, performance invariably improves when people take greater accountability and ownership for results. Why do they do it? We believe people want to be accountable. Accountability makes them feel better. It empowers them to get amazing results. That is why so many people around the world have so enthusiastically embraced The Oz Principle. Only when people in organizations escape the deadly trap of victimization and begin to ascend the steps to individual accountability can they claim their own destinies and the future of their enterprises.     We wrote The Oz Principle 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.     Please join us on this new journey through Oz. Roger Connors Thomas Smith Craig Hickman To order The Oz Principle book, click here.