Roger Connors > Quotes

“left uncorrected in an organization, victim attitudes can erode productivity, competitiveness, morale, and trust to the point that correction becomes so difficult and expensive that the organization can never fully heal itself”
― Roger Connors, The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability

“A thin line separates success from failure, the great companies from the ordinary ones. Below that line lies excuse making, blaming others, confusion, and an attitude of helplessness, while above that line we find a sense of reality, ownership, commitment, solutions to problems, and determined action. While losers languish Below The Line, preparing stories that explain why past efforts went awry, winners reside Above The Line, powered by commitment and hard work.”
― Roger Connors, The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability

“Since no one individual can mandate a perfectly accurate description of reality, you must draw from many other people's perceptions to imbue your reality with the deepest possible understanding of its many hues and shades.”
― Roger Connors, The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability

“When bad things unexpectedly happen, as they always do, or when serious errors in judgment occur, as they do more often than most of us wish to admit, accountable companies and their executives take action to control the damage and set a new course for achieving results.”
― Roger Connors, The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability

“Every organization has a culture, which either works for you or against you—and”
― Roger Connors, Change the Culture, Change the Game: The Breakthrough Strategy for Energizing Your Organization and Creating Accountability for Results

“When you’re doing all you can and “what more?” seems an impossible task, try thinking differently, step outside your box, and open your mind to solutions that were there all the time. Solutions you just couldn’t see. Act”
― Roger Connors, Fix It: Getting Accountability Right

“Remember, getting stuck in the victim cycle is not bad, it’s just not effective. It keeps you from getting results.”
― Roger Connors, The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability

“But even in the worst of such circumstances, people can’t move forward if they just sit around feeling powerless and blaming others for their misery.”
― Roger Connors, The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability

“The hard things people need to say and hear are those things that can do the most to help them see the reality of a situation, a reality that can make all the difference between success and failure. That’s the prize. It’s not about the hard things hurting you; it’s about the hard things helping you see a reality that will move you to a better place to get the results you want. Now”
― Roger Connors, Fix It: Getting Accountability Right

“When you can’t control your circumstances, don’t let your circumstances control you.”
― Roger Connors, The Wisdom of Oz: Using Personal Accountability to Succeed in Everything You Do

“Accountability is a personal choice to rise above one’s circumstances and demonstrate the ownership necessary for achieving Key Results: See It, Own It, Solve It, and Do It.”
― Roger Connors, Fix It: Getting Accountability Right

“It seems ironic that, in this information age, millions of people feel such a lack of control over their lives. Obviously, the communications revolution has done little to overcome, and may even have contributed to, a feeling of detachment and disconnectedness with circumstances and other people.”
― Roger Connors, The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability

“If you want to build a project that is perfect, you’ll never succeed. You must allow failure, and people need to know it, so tell them.”
― Roger Connors, Fix It: Getting Accountability Right

“Where performance is measured, performance improves. Where performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.” What you pay attention to grows.”
― Roger Connors, Fix It: Getting Accountability Right

“Failing fast involves egoless work. Egoless programming. Egoless operating. Egoless analysis. To remove ego, structure projects as a team effort. No solo acts. No product is any one person’s “baby.” Otherwise, people can’t criticize a product without criticizing the person. To fail fast and learn quickly, remove ego and make everything a team effort.”
― Roger Connors, Fix It: Getting Accountability Right

“Always solicit and strive to understand perspectives other than your own.”
― Roger Connors, The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability

“The capacity to learn is a gift; The ability to learn is a skill; The willingness to learn is a choice.”
― Roger Connors, Fix It: Getting Accountability Right

“Asking, “What else can I do?” when you discover that you are wrong, in any situation or after suffering any personal setback, illuminates the path you need to take”
― Roger Connors, Fix It: Getting Accountability Right

“What else can I do to achieve the result?”
― Roger Connors, The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability

“There is no ‘easy button’ when it comes to beating the competition. Success is simply about working hard and delivering results and staying uncomfortable.”
― Roger Connors, Fix It: Getting Accountability Right

“from the willingness of an organization’s people to embrace full accountability for the results they seek.”
― Roger Connors, The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability

“What else can I do? are perhaps the five most powerful words anyone can say”
― Roger Connors, Fix It: Getting Accountability Right

“The problem, however, is obvious: we all operate on limited information based on where we stand relative to the challenges we face. As a result, we rarely see the whole picture, relying instead on just our own bias and restricted point of view. Going”
― Roger Connors, Fix It: Getting Accountability Right

“Whatever the wording, all our justifications for failure focus on “why it can’t be done,” rather than on “what else I can do.” To”
― Roger Connors, The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability

“Getting a team to act on the feedback they receive from one another creates real traction and ensures true progress toward results.”
― Roger Connors, Fix It: Getting Accountability Right

“The most compelling reason to work on your culture? Culture produces results.”
― Roger Connors, Change the Culture, Change the Game: The Breakthrough Strategy for Energizing Your Organization and Creating Accountability for Results

“Asking “What else can I do?” is the very essence of taking accountability and is the Solve It question. It’s all about your ability to engage personally, and deeply, with what you can and should be doing, despite the gravitational tug from all the reasons/excuses that can drag you down Below The Line.”
― Roger Connors, Fix It: Getting Accountability Right

“I’m going to work at a place I love, in an industry I love being involved in because of the challenge and excitement. Live it, breathe it, understand it, research it, study it. Learn every day.”
― Roger Connors, Fix It: Getting Accountability Right

“The world’s societies suffer from the current cult of victimization because its subtle dogma holds that circumstances and other people prevent you from achieving your goals.”
― Roger Connors, The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability

“the accountable person looks for every opportunity to self-report. They are eager to review progress; they aren’t afraid of it. Before”
― Roger Connors, Fix It: Getting Accountability Right