QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability at Work and in Life
QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability at Work and in Life
Who Moved My Cheese? showed readers how to adapt to change.
Fish! helped raise flagging morale.
Execution guided readers to overcome the inability to get things done.
QBQ! The Question Behind the Question, already a phenomenon in its self-published edition, addresses the most important issue in business and society today: personal accountability.
The lack of personal accountability has resulted in an epidemic of blame, complaining, and procrastination. No organization-or individual-can achieve goals, compete in the marketplace, fulfill a vision, or develop people and teams without personal accountability.
The solution involves an entirely new approach. We can no longer ask, “Who dropped the ball?” “Why can’t they do their work properly?” or “Why do we have to go through all these changes?” Instead, every individual has to ask the question behind the question: “How can I improve this situation?” “What can I contribute?” or “How can I make a difference?”
Succinct, insightful, and practical, QBQ! The Question Behind the Question provides a method for putting personal accountability into daily action, which can bring astonishing results: problems get solved, barriers come down, service improves, teamwork grows, and people adapt to change.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
User Ratings and Reviews
1 Stars Book
Never received the book. Book shows as being delivered, but does not show where it delivered to and who signed for the book.
5 Stars What or How Can “I” Do
QBQ is the best little book I have read in a long time. The author challenges the reader to personalize the challenges in this book versus thinking of someone else who “should” be reading the book. This is a book I plan to read a couple of times a year for the opportunity to examine myself in the area of personal accountability.
3 Stars Longer than it needed to be
Don’t get me wrong, the ideas in the book were good ones, but it felt like all the supporting text simply rehashed the ideas over and over. The chapters were uncommonly short, sometimes only a paragraph at a time, which could be a good thing or an obnoxious thing, depending on your view. And while we’re on the topic of short things, the entire book itself can be read through in a matter of a couple hours. It’s very small. Perhaps my problem was that I just sat down and read the whole thing at once. Perhaps if I’d taken a chapter at a time over a few days it would have felt less like stretching the good points out to make a book.
5 Stars Simply practical
More and more I look for books that have content I can immediately apply and Miller’s QBQ! and Flipping the Switch - and his new book “Outstanding!” - fit this criteria. Lots of great stories, common sense ideas that I can use at work and at home. In QBQ! I found the most useable method of being accountable ever and it is not shaming or lecturing or demeaning. The QBQ! (The Question Behind the Question) is uplifting and helps me simply take ownership instead playing victim, pointing fingers and blaming. There are lots of chances in life to complain, but QBQ! instructs me to ask “What can I do?” and then I am able to move forward. Love the Jacob, Bonita, and Judy stories in the book. Very memorable. I’ve also given a copy to each of my grown children. Terrific book!
5 Stars QBQ The Question Behind the Question
the book is amazing. I was dissapointed in the legnth of time it took to have the book shipped to me. 2+ weeks.
Filed under: Personal Development Book Reviews