 | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | A decade ago, The Oz Principle took the business world by storm. At its root, the principle works like this: Like Dorothy and the gang in The Wizard of Oz, most businesspeople have the tools to succeed, but when things go wrong they blame circumstance or others instead of looking within for the true cause of unsatisfactory results. Once individuals learn to accept responsibility, they can use the Oz Principle to become better leaders. Now, with corporate scandals in the headlines and the culture of victimization running rampant at every level of the business world, Roger Connors, Tom Smith, and Craig Hickman return with a new edition of The Oz Principle. Fully revised, this edition will update the statistics, concepts, and relevant companies through fresh, timely anecdotes and stories. |
Average Customer Rating:   Practical ideas for getting your team on board. I am a oonsultant with small businesses and I am constantly being called on to help with getting the team on board. Communication is frequently a problem. The four part test, see it, own it, solve it and then do it, has become a stable part of my vocabulary. The See It part is so crucial. We think we have asked or stated the problem clearly, until we follow up and find that we are missing key components. That part alone has been worth the price of the book. The three books in the series have been three of the best books I have read on this topic. Corporate Copyrighting of the Great Western Tradition 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 victimization to salvation as found 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 "c" 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 put 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 choose "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 to just 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. Thoroughly enjoyed and found numerous items to employ... As the VP of operations for a small software development company, I found the information in this book very useful. The concepts seemed especially applicable to those in the fast changing environment of software development. So often in the software business, there are an exponential number of factors that are beyond your control. The concept of staying "above the line" was especially useful and helped us be much more creative in terms of actual solutions to problems that would otherwise have a more significant impact. Also, the concept of silos couldn't be more critical for us as well because of the constant mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships that are constantly being developed in the software industry. We've removed numerous silos between our QA, Support, Engineering, and Product Management shops based on the themes in this book. A must have for anyone developing software or any line of business where work flow and process control are mission critical. I actually purchased several additional copies and made it required reading for folks on the team. Great Book This book gives clear direction and practical tools on how to help people and organizations become more accountable. The authors re-define accountability and put it in a positive light that makes it much more approachable. A good read, with great content! The Oz Principle I love reading business books and was referred to The Oz Principle by a friend. When I first started out reading it and it started talking about accountability, I thought I was in for a book that talked strictly about accountability and how to hold people's feet to the fire, boy was I wrong. The Oz Principle addressed accountability in an accessible and positive way. They weren't talking about holding people's feet to the fire, rather they were talking about helping teams come together and achieving results. Overall, I thought this was a refreshing book with good insights, and one that I would definitely refer to a friend.
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