The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

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."

The Oz Principle chronicles the journey from victimization to accountability, a journey which is desperately needed in the work world today. For this I applaud the authors in their successful endeavors to raise this issue and bring it to light. Self-awareness is the truest path to overcoming. I have been in management for 38 years, and I have seen the victim mentality in others as well as in myself. This slavish mentality is crippling and needs to be transcended.

However, I also have a BA in philosophy, which I received at the young age of 21, and I have continued to study it. The journey of which The Oz Principle speaks is nothing new. This journey inspired and was undertaken by most philosophical, religious, and historical traditions of the West, starting with Abraham when he heard his name called. The road from victimization to emancipation, whether traveled by Moses on the exodus to the Promised Land or by Martin Luther King Jr. on the marches to civil rights, has been one manifestation of this mythical and primordial task. The road from victimization at the hands of the British Crown to political freedom, as witnessed in the writings of Thomas Payne, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, is another. The list goes on: From the victimization of mere opinion to the freedom of knowledge as described by the Allegory of the Cave in Plato's Republic. From being victimized and found guilty by the law to the shattering epiphany of apprehending the original grant, the original gift, the original covenant, as shown in the Epistles of Saint Paul. From being trapped and ruled by hidden memories and fears inside the unconscious to the bright, open expanse of self-awareness uncovered by psychoanalysis, initially heralded by Sigmund Freud. The journey becomes even more crystalized in Aristotle's portrayal of the Magnanimous Man and in Nietzsche's Overman. The Oz Principle cannot hold a candle to these great historical and literary movements.

The best summary of this hero's journey, for it is a hero who makes the leap out of victimization, is Joseph Campbell's "Hero with a Thousand Faces." Campbell breaks down the leap from victimization to authenticity into several stages. Among them are the call to adventure, the refusal of the call, the crossing of the first threshold, the belly of the whale, the road of trials, the ultimate boon, the refusal of the return, the crossing of the return threshold, and the freedom to live.

The greatest difference, however, between The Oz Principle and these other lives and works is that none of these others attempted to copyright this universal experience. I don't recall Martin Luther King Jr. ever trying to copyright the expression "We shall overcome," or "I have a dream today." Yet The Oz Principle is embarrassingly filled with short italicized phrases with a copyright circled "R" after them. Examples are Steps to Accountability, Below the Line, Above the Line, See It, Own It, Solve It, Do It. It's a good thing they didn't put the word "just" in front of "do it," or Nike might be suing them.

Socrates, the greatest thinker of the West and a self proclaimed philosopher, spent inordinate time differentiating himself from the sophists, who were speakers and writers who sold their knowledge for money. The sophists claimed to have the secret to life for a fee. Socrates never took any money, but he liberated many more people, and not just in his own time either. He knew that this universal human journey did not belong to just one man. He never passed the basket around after his sermons.

Returning from my philosophical journey and re-opening my eyes within the shadows of my managerial career, I fully recognize that I live in the 21st Century where capitalism rules, and rules rightfully so. Corporations create efficiencies, and six and a half billion people could not live without those efficiencies. The authors of The Oz Principle have a right to earn a living. So I recommend that you buy the book, if you are in management. In fact, I recommend it even if you are a union worker who believes himself victimized by corporations. I also recommend you attend the authors' seminars. Just remember that their road is only a small part of the human journey, a human journey that shall one day transcend and overcome the 21st Century. If the human journey is an ocean, The Oz Principle rations it with an eye drop.

In his famous play, Shakespeare, through his character Hamlet, asks "whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" (victimization) "or to take arms against a sea of trouble and by opposing end them" (taking control of one's own life). Yet "Hamlet" is a tragedy, which shows what is really at stake in this human journey. Certainly Martin Luther King Jr. did not have a happy ending to his personal life, although his crusade continues to inspire generations. Socrates was sentenced to death by the Athenian democracy who tired of his calling citizens to task and to responsibility. Acknowledging and consenting to one's own death is a necessary part of the hero's journey. This acknowledging and consenting is not possible for a corporation, because it is not flesh and blood. Of all the examples that exist in the history of the West, the authors of this book chose "The Wizard of Oz," a children's fantasy with a happy ending. Choosing fantasy over tragedy is not just a sign of this book. Perhaps it is a sign of our times, and points to our inability to overcome the 21st Century.

With its copyrighting and its seminars, the Oz Principle exemplifies the Wizard, a sophist in his own right, more than it teaches us about Dorothy or any of her friends. The Wizard plays a part but ultimately is a comical figure, trying just to hold on and find a place for himself, much like the rest of us. He refuses to confront his own death, and he refuses to deal with the scariest danger confronting his age and his dominion. He leaves it to those who take a deeper ownership of their lives, an ownership that is not possible through copyrighting.

I'm now using this book to build a corp. culture for the second time. I buy a copy for every employee. I know they don't all read it. But, we use it as the text for company meetings, training and performance expectations. Big help in getting people to take more responsibility for our success as a company.