Are you an Inspiration or filled with Desperation?

Every once in a while I run across a great read that so succinctly says what I’ve been telling my clients for years. “The Oz Principle” by Roger Connors, Tom Smith and Craig Hickman is one of them. It fires me up!

Accountability, by their definition, is not derived through punishment and consequences but rather through ownership and empowerment. Their specific definition is:

“A personal choice to rise above one’s circumstances and demonstrate the ownership necessary for achieving desired results – to See It, Own It, Solve It and Do It.”

So, where are you? Have you become a whiner and complainer or have you pulled yourself up by your bootstraps and decided to do what it takes to make things happen regardless of circumstance?

Have you determined that failure is not an option? Have you committed to doing what it takes to keep moving forward or are you sitting in limbo-land trying to decide whether you should stick it out or give up the fight?

If you are a leader, your team is watching you. Where are you and where are they? What are you tolerating from them that you shouldn’t? Where are you failing to model integrity and tenacity?

The authors have created a great list to help you determine whether you are a victim or empowered. You can also evaluate your team. If you are living below the line, as they put it, you are missing the opportunity to make big things happen.

Here is a portion of their list:

• You feel held captive by your circumstance.
• You don’t listen when others tell you, directly or indirectly, that they think you could have done more to achieve better results.
• You find yourself blaming others and pointing fingers.
• Your discussions of problems focus more on what you cannot do, rather than on what you can do.
• You find yourself being sought out by others so they can tell you what someone else did to them this time.
• You feel you are being treated unfairly and you don’t think you can do anything about it.
• You spend a lot of time talking about things you cannot change (your boss, your shareholders, the economy, government regulations).
• You cite your confusion as a reason for not taking action.
• You avoid the people, the meetings, and the situations that require you to report on your responsibilities.
• You find yourself saying:
  • “It’s not my job.”
  • “There’s nothing I can do about it.”
  • “Someone ought to tell him.”
  • “All we can do is wait and see.”
  • “Just tell me what you want me to do.”
  • “If it were me, I’d do it differently.”
• You spend valuable time crafting a compelling story detailing why you were not at fault.
• You view the world with a pessimistic attitude.

So, how did you do? Are you living with tenacity or hiding behind circumstance? What are you modeling to your team, your kids, your community? Are you an inspiration or filled with desperation?

I sign every newsletter with “wishing you a life of joy, balance, passion and purpose.” And all of these are within your reach, today, regardless of circumstance, if you choose to take accountability for your life and work. And that is my hope. That you will find the power that lies within each of you to create the life that you were made to live!

If you’d like to read the entire book, and I highly recommend that you do, you can find it here: The Oz Principle

Here’s wishing you a life of joy, balance, passion and purpose!!