The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability

ALARIS, a medical products company, had been plagued by lackluster performance despite clear opportunities for growth. The CEO focused his attention on the problem divisions but still felt as though nothing improved. Once they applied the methods of the Oz Principle, everyone began to take accountability for their circumstances, and they dramatically turned around the quality of products and the delivery system over two years. Stock prices improved, all while also downsizing other aspects of the company. Schlotterbeck chalked it up to everyone taking accountability for their circumstances.

Once, at a conference in Hawaii, the authors saw people driving rental cars over lava beds. During their engagement, they jokingly provided this as an example of people not being accountable. Too often, people view their circumstances as pure chance while thinking that they are responsible only when things go well. This distinction is a clear path to getting stuck in the victim cycle.

Brian and Andy, on their commute to work, heard the story of a man who had recently been mugged and ended up in a coma. Brian felt as though something similar had happened to him just out of graduate school. He took a job with a pool-supplier because the founders, Sam and Dave, promised a great salary and plenty of perks as a vice president. Initially, things went well, and he felt he had made a good choice. Then, suddenly, he learned that the company had been sold. He made an effort to work with new leadership, but he discovered that his new boss was undermining him behind his back because he felt that Brian was too young and inexperienced to lead the company in the direction he envisioned.

Brian quit and felt betrayed and victimized by all three people. Andy questioned Brian’s narrative, urging him to imagine that he might be responsible for the circumstances he experienced. Brian acknowledged that he could have accepted a different job, and over the course of multiple commutes, he also acknowledged that there were signs that the founders were not that committed to his long-term success. He had ignored these signs—a pattern of this kind of behavior, a salary that was less than initially agreed upon—because of the prestige of the position. Brian came to see that, in some ways, he was responsible for what had happened, and he began to appreciate what it means to take ownership of your circumstances.

There are many people who are unwilling to own their circumstances, but the world is changing. The Times magazine reported that companies are becoming smaller and more portable, and workers are becoming more expendable. Companies are dematerializing. In a recent example, Bank of America moved many employees to part-time status despite record profits. At the same time, employers are becoming increasingly reliant on temporary workers. However, individuals must take ownership, as the workforce is changing such that you are “now in business for yourself” (141).

In these changes, there is a potential for workers to fall into the victim cycle, blaming their employer for their results. In a Fortune magazine report, the most admired companies are often those where there is a high degree of employee accountability and employees are treated well.

To have the heart to take ownership for their circumstances, people must be willing to look at both sides of a story. When people tell themselves victim stories, they often neglect to acknowledge how they contributed to the story. Leaders like Lee Iacocca of Chrysler acknowledge their mistakes to stay out of the victim cycle. A professor of business administration offered a “money-back guarantee” to his students, making himself accountable to his students in a way that is rare.

On the other hand, more people report feeling dissatisfied with their lives, and culturally people have become obsessed with pursuing happiness through self-help books and retreats, without much progress. Like Dorothy as she first travels to Oz, people often expect someone else to fix their problems. In the information age, many feel that they have little control over their lives and end up just sitting on the sidelines.

The Columbia spaceship tragedy led to more criticism of NASA for its failures, which led to the reassignment of three top officials. This scapegoating of these officials misses the points that the conditions for this tragedy, in which seven astronauts lost their lives, were created by failures throughout the organization. Many did not have to take ownership for their part because they did not have to connect the dots between their actions and the tragedy. It will take years for NASA to come to terms with the true scope of the problem. To some extent, taking ownership means taking a slightly different view of a familiar adage: “If you are not part of the problem, you are not part of the solution” (148).

Compare NASA to Bradco, a drywall and plaster company. An estimator took it upon himself to figure out why actual costs were much higher than estimates. He discovered that he himself had created the problem. He owned it and was praised by leadership for acknowledging the error. Catching the error early saved the company, and they used his example to promote a culture of ownership.

The authors encourage readers to apply these ideas to a situation in which they feel like a victim by completing the “Own It Self-Assessment.” In the first part of this activity, readers are prompted to tell the “victim side” of this story in which they try to convince someone they are not at fault. Then, they try to understand the other side of the story by providing in depth answers to five questions in which they try to understand how they contributed to the problem and what they chose to ignore. After they have done this, they are prompted to identify at least four accountable facts and rate their willingness to take ownership of them on a scale of 1-10. The aim is to identify strategies to get out of the victim cycle and move Above The Line.

Ownership can be seen in the Japanese train system. To keep the trains on time, the system puts extra effort into highlighting unsafe and irresponsible behavior. It might delay the train to jam people into a packed car while the doors are closing, for example. Extra workers also stand on the platforms at some stops to shame passengers who engage in this behavior.

Josh Tanner, a previous colleague of the authors, provides another example. Coming from a successful background at an established company, he took a risk and accepted an offer at a startup company where he felt he could shine. In the new position, he quickly fell into trouble, but he had the sense to seek out feedback. He was surprised to learn that his coworkers and superiors were underwhelmed by his performance and approach. The authors worked to get Josh Above The Line. At first, he was angry and felt victimized. He couldn’t make the connections between his behavior and how he was perceived. Over time, he began to take ownership for misinterpreting the culture of the new company. He learned to take responsibility for his contributions to his circumstances and eventually received a promotion to vice president.

By finding the heart to “Own It,” people can, like the Tin Woodsman, move beyond feeling like a victim.

As the auto industry slumped a few years ago, one company, Toyota, which was already an extraordinarily successful company, rethought everything about its structure and came out on top. Unlike American and European counterparts, the Japanese company did not lose its head over short-term losses and instead intelligently planned to make long-term growth possible. Toyota exhibits an exemplary “Solve It” attitude.

Solving problems means addressing real problems. Contrast Toyota with Ann Taylor stores. In the 1990s, a new CEO took over and began making changes to the products and the materials used to make them, focusing on problems that didn’t exist. The store lost almost $500 million as it tried to expand at the same time. A former CEO was brought back on board and quickly implemented Above The Line thinking to restore the clothing store.

The authors worked with a credit card company to improve the call center, where inefficiency can result in massive lost profits. It wasn’t challenging to get people on board with the goals, but the implementation was harder. However, before long, the company made the structural improvement necessary to improve the call center, resulting in a big boom in the company’s profits.

Finding solutions can also be hampered by an unwillingness to accept reality. Solving it can often take the form of dealing with tough times. Consider reports of those involved in the tech industry who have become underemployed and depressed. Preparation is necessary if one works in an industry “prone to swings” (165), as is facing the reality that people now live in a world in which multiple careers are the norm. Solutions don’t just materialize; people must ask themselves, “What else can I do?” (165).

Robert Frey describes in the Harvard Business Review how he dealt with a difficult situation at a company he had purchased. The company was stuck in the victim cycle. Wages were unsustainable and workers took too many breaks. Frey worked with the union and tried to share information about how dire their situation was. To create value for the workers, he created a profit-sharing model to give them incentive to “Own It” and “Solve It.” It took time to move the company Above The Line, as many were thinking narrowly about their responsibilities. Over time, everyone began to “Own It” and “Solve It,” leading to more prosperity for all.

Resisting the temptation to get stuck Below The Line isn’t easy. One department store vice president the authors worked with demonstrated how to do it well. They turned a lack of new merchandising and marketing opportunities around with his store managers, who learned to take accountability and look for solutions. In an unusual meeting with six of these managers, one asked if they could dip Below The Line for a minute. After a few minutes of allowing the managers to vent their frustrations and problems, he brought them back Above The Line with productive thinking.

A recent Fortune article indicates that few people actually find their jobs rewarding. The article discusses the possibilities of early retirement, but it fails to acknowledge that most people could make their jobs more “rewarding if they would only accept accountability for that result” (175). Even if someone chooses to retire early, they must take responsibility to “Solve It” and find ways to cut the amount of work they must do to get by. Even planning to retire early means staying Above The Line.

College textbook publishers are currently at risk if they don’t adopt a “Solve It” attitude. Many seem stuck to the idea of publishing standard textbooks, not recognizing school and university uptake of evolving technologies. This puts publishers at a risk for loss, though some publishers recognize an opportunity for enormous growth.

Organizations can manage the first two steps of staying Above The Line well but stumble on the third. A software company, CreativeWare, often overcommitted on making tight deadlines because of a vice president’s hasty promises. Though others at the company saw the problem, they got stuck Below The Line by failing to come up with creative solutions. In another case, toasters produced by GE that contained faulty parts from another company, causing the toasters to burst into flames, resulted in injury and home damages. Both companies were aware of the issues but were slow to “Solve It.”

The authors have identified the following skills as essential to the “Solve It” step.

1. “Stay engaged.”
2. “Persist.”
3. “Think Differently.”
4. Make “New Linkages.”
5. Take Initiative.
6. “Stay conscious.”

The “Solve-It Self-Assessment” worksheet and scoring sheet can help readers explore the degree to which they use these skills (182).

An oil company with which the authors worked wanted to improve a bad track record of accidents. By applying the Oz Principle and asking at every meeting what they could do to improve, they dramatically improved safety and lost less time to these problems. The directors under the vice president at CreativeWare eventually got Above The Line by asking what else they could do. They presented their concerns when the company was behind on its targets. Though the vice president lost his job, the directors’ persistence, and their willingness to overcome their sense of powerlessness, led to a series of interventions and new approaches that would not have been realized otherwise.

David Glass, who has held many leadership roles at Wal-Mart, provides a great example of the “Do It” attitude. Glass spends a lot of his time in the stores because he knows that the success of the business depends on knowing what’s going on in the aisles. Employees respect him and welcome him. Leaders from other teams frequently visit him to learn from him.

Successfully completing a task means owning your circumstances. On their website, FedEx includes stories of delivery drivers overcoming impossible odds to get packages delivered, including bicycling in extreme heat. Someone might stay Above The Line for a while even if they stop short of accomplishing what they set out to do, but ultimately anything short of achieving results “indicates a lack of full acceptance of accountability” (192). Ultimately, this means overcoming a fear of failure.

Taking responsibility can often be fundamental to staying Above The Line. In one example, a delivery driver contracted by a computer startup discovered that the computer he was delivering, which represented a major milestone for the company, was overweight. Instead of blaming others for the inevitable delays, he dismantled part of his van and hid the parts in a ditch to keep the delivery underweight and on time.

Guidant, a medical products manufacturer that the authors discussed earlier, provides another example. To become more customer-facing, new employees attend trainings in which they learn about the Oz Principle. In one example, they were able to help a doctor recognize that one of their devices would not adversely interact with another device the patient already had implanted.

There are a lot of perceived risks with taking full responsibility for results. Many companies have learned to encourage risk by creating urgency. Chevrolet had allowed the quality of two of its most recognizable cars, the Camaro and the Firebird (associated with its sibling company GM), to languish. GM took the initiative, gave the team a small budget upfront, and told them to fix the situation while resisting the urge to micromanage. Empowering the company to be accountable for results allowed them to do just that.

“Failing to Do It” can lead to a cycle of disappointment. A management consultant firm the authors are familiar with got stuck in a dangerous cycle of anticipating and avoiding a cliff by increasing sales. As the cliff got steeper, however, the company had to face reality. Through honest self-assessment and open dialogue with workers, the company recognized that few felt responsible for making sales and the president and the CEO weren’t good at training others to make sales. The company corrected this problem by implementing a tiered system for sales opportunities and training employees at each tier. At this time, however, the president secured a big sale, and the company went back to business as usual Below The Line. A year later, they found themselves in the same situation.

The “Do-It Self-Assessment” questionnaire and scoring guide are provided to help readers assess their willingness (205). Furthermore, if people truly value accountability, they will seek out feedback from others. Karsten offers a positive example of the “Do It” attitude. He had to abandon formal education during the Great Depression, but he eventually landed a job at GE, where he invented rabbit ears to improve television reception. He didn’t receive much money for the invention, but instead of becoming bitter, he learned from his mistakes. He went on to revolutionize golf putters.

The authors’ client, Guidant CRM, confronted a difficult situation. When a supplier’s factory burned down, the medical products Guidant produced to treat heart failure were at risk. Instead of giving into failure and letting less sophisticated competitors take their place, the company charged engineers with rolling out a new device on a compressed timeline. By charging personnel to “Solve It” and embracing a culture of accountability, the company delivered a smaller product and secured FDA approval.

The authors also know of a person they call Terry who was fresh out of his master of business administration (MBA) program and landed a great-seeming opportunity to lead a product-development team on a significant project. He worked tirelessly with his team over the next few months to get the project together, but when the time came to present to the director, they were dismissed and the director seemed indifferent to their work. Terry came across a copy of The Oz Principle and, instead of feeling like a victim, he decided to confront the situation. He learned that the company was on the verge of collapse and the director, under a lot of pressure to turn things around, had put Terry’s project at the bottom of his list. He also learned that his group’s secretiveness had rubbed other employees the wrong way.

Now that he was able to “See It,” he shared his insights with his team, who also recognized the problems they had created. He was able to turn around perceptions of himself at the company and eventually became a director of production.

Though Dorothy wore the slippers throughout her time in Oz, it was only after she recognized that she was accountable and possessed the ability to rise above her circumstances that she was finally able to go home. This principle can be seen in The Bible and the poetry of W. E. Henley.