Books about Accountability from Amazon.com

QBQ! by John G. Miller is a motivational primer aimed at purging the "blame, complaining, and procrastination" from the workplace Miller believes that one of the hallmarks of today's business culture is a lack of personal accountability; he prescribes the cure in this series of short stories and personal observations drawn from his years of experience running his organizational development firm. His main point is that positive change begins with individuals changing themselves: "Instead of asking, 'When will others walk their talk?' let's walk our talk first." The result is choppy (39 chapters in 115 pages), and at times Miller's advice boils down to truism and cliché. Nevertheless, managers whose workplaces demand remedial, straightforward advice should find a useful tool here. --Harry C. Edwards.
Price: $9.82 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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..
Price: $5.71 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Asking the right kind of question isonly the first step to becoming fullyengaged at work and in life.

In his bestselling book QBQ! The Question Behind the Question, John G. Miller revealed how personal accountability helps to create opportunity, overcome obstacles, and achieve goals by eliminating blame, complaining, and procrastination. The result? Stronger organizations, more dynamic teams, and healthier relationships.

Now Miller takes readers to the next level to show how they can use the power of the QBQ! and personal accountability every day.

When a light switch is flipped the flow of energy that is released reaches the lightbulb in an instant, bringing it to life. Similarly, asking the right kind of question-a QBQ-is the first step to empowering what Miller calls the Advantage Principles-five essential practices that will lead to a richer experience in every aspect of life:

- LEARNING: live an engaged and energized life through positive personal growth and change
- OWNERSHIP: attain goals by becoming a solution-oriented person who solves problems
- CREATIVITY: find new ways to achieve by succeeding "within the box"
- SERVICE: build a legacy by helping others succeed
- TRUST: develop deep and rewarding relationships

With compelling real-life stories and keen insights, Miller demonstrates how anyone can find success and satisfaction by "flipping the switch.".
Price: $4.43 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A citizens' guide to what's wrong with the nation's radical federal education legislation—and a passionate call for change

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has become the most fiercely debated education issue of this election year, and it will be at the center of the national conversation about schools for the foreseeable future. NCLB, signed into law in 2002, purports to improve public schools—and especially the way they serve poor children—by enforcing a system of standards and accountability through high-stakes testing and sanctions. It is radically affecting the life of schools around the country.

Many Children Left Behind is a devastating brief against NCLB. Far from improving public schools and increasing the ability of the system to serve poor and minority children, the authors argue, the law is doing exactly the opposite. Here some of our most prominent, respected voices in education—including Deborah Meier, Alfie Kohn, and Theodore R. Sizer—come together to show us how, point by point, NCLB undermines the things it claims to improve:

· How NCLB punishes rather than helps poor and minority kids and their schools
· How NCLB helps further an agenda of privatization and an attack on public schools
· How the focus on testing and test preparation dumbs down classrooms
· How we need alternatives to construing the idea of accountability in terms of test scores and sanctions.

Educators and parents around the country are feeling the harshly counterproductive effects of NCLB. This book is an essential guide to understanding what's wrong and where we should go from here..
Price: $6.40 [Notify me when price goes down.]

With four simple truths as his framework, Charles Murray, the bestselling coauthor of The Bell Curve, sweeps away the hypocrisy, wishful thinking, and upside-down priorities that grip America’s educational establishment.

Ability varies. Children differ in their ability to learn academic material. Doing our best for every child requires, above all else, that we embrace that simplest of truths. America’s educational system does its best to ignore it.

Half of the children are below average. Many children cannot learn more than rudimentary reading and math. Real Education reviews what we know about the limits of what schools can do and the results of four decades of policies that require schools to divert huge resources to unattainable goals.

Too many people are going to college. Almost everyone should get training beyond high school, but the number of students who want, need, or can profit from four years of residential education at the college level is a fraction of the number of young people who are struggling to get a degree. We have set up a standard known as the BA, stripped it of its traditional content, and made it an artificial job qualification. Then we stigmatize everyone who doesn’t get one. For most of America’s young people, today’s college system is a punishing anachronism.

America’s future depends on how we educate the academically gifted. An elite already runs the country, whether we like it or not. Since everything we watch, hear, and read is produced by that elite, and since every business and government department is run by that elite, it is time to start thinking about the kind of education needed by the young people who will run the country. The task is not to give them more advanced technical training, but to give them an education that will make them into wiser adults; not to pamper them, but to hold their feet to the fire.

The good news is that change is not only possible but already happening. Real Education describes the technological and economic trends that are creating options for parents who want the right education for their children, teachers who want to be free to teach again, and young people who want to find something they love doing and learn how to do it well. These are the people for whom Real Education was written. It is they, not the politicians or the educational establishment, who will bring American schools back to reality.

Twenty-four years ago, Charles Murray’s Losing Ground changed the way the nation thought about welfare. Real Education is about to do the same thing for America’s schools..
Price: $16.47 [Notify me when price goes down.]

How to promote Christian leadership development through the study of the history of Christianity, including discipleship, mentoring, Christian community, and personal relationships.
Price: $10.60 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This easy-to-use doctrinal favorite incorporates many cases decided within the last several years. It emphasizes personal injury torts, including civil rights torts, but also covers non-tort systems of compensation, including social security and workers' compensation. Several chapters deal with current medical malpractice and products liability law. (The malpractice chapter has a new section on nursing home liability.) Shorter chapters cover economic and dignitary torts such as defamation, privacy, fraud and others. In approach, this book attempts to present basic concepts such as duty, negligence, cause, scope of risk, and comparative responsibility by using cases and notes that ask for thoughtful analysis and synthesis, as well as respect for facts and policy. The book also investigates such current issues as tort reform and apportionment of responsibility..
Price: $113.88 [Notify me when price goes down.]

You may not believe that there’s a fun and easy way to comply with Sarbanes –Oxley, but once you have Sarbanes-Oxley For Dummies, Second Edition in front of you, you’re sure to change your mind. This friendly guide gets you quickly up to speed with the latest SOX legislation and shows you safe and effective ways to reduce compliance costs.

In plain English, this completely reliable handbook walks you through the new and revised SOX laws, introduces compliance strategies for changed and unchanged guidelines, and gives you an effective framework for implementation You’ll find out how to create an efficient audit committee, purchase and use SOX software solutions, and make practical, cost-effective decisions in your initial compliance year and beyond. You’ll also find proven strategies for staying public or going private and learn how to deal with all those SOX forms. Discover how to:

• Establish SOX standards for IT professionals
• Minimize compliance costs in every area of your company
• Survive a section 404 audit
• Avoid litigation under SOX
• Anticipate future rules and trends
• Create a post-SOX paper trail
• Bolster your company’s standing and reputation
• Work with SOX in a small business
• Meet new SOX standards
• Build a board that can’t be bought
• Comply with all SOX management mandates

Complete with invaluable tips on how to form an effective audit committee, Sarbanes-Oxley For Dummies is the resource you need to keep your SOX clean..
Price: $11.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

With all of the pressures successful business leaders have today, none is more urgent or challenging than learning the ability to execute strategy.

While larger businesses have the luxury of budgets and resources to meet this challenge, it s the small and midsized businesses that now have a tremendous opportunity to level the playing field, leapfrog the expensive, outdated approaches of the past, and attack the challenge of execution in a revolutionary way. The key insights are:

• Excellence is the enduring pursuit of balanced strategy and execution
• Planning and executing, while at the same time dealing with the inevitable surprises, is the biggest challenge in business
• Overcoming this challenge is what we mean by solving the one problem that makes all others easier
• Failing to solve the problem destines your organization to a reactive, fire-fighting future.

Based on breakthrough research, field testing and proven best-practices, the thought-leading vision described by Gary Harpst in Six Disciplines® Execution Revolution sets a new course for how small and midsized businesses can finally confront the never-ending challenge of executing strategy.

As a follow-up to the success of Six Disciplines for Excellence, Harpst's new book, Six Disciplines® Execution Revolution, details the elements of a complete strategy execution program, clarifies how it could only have happened now, and explains why such a program will soon become a mainstream requirement for your business..
Price: $10.15 [Notify me when price goes down.]