Featured Posts in the category of Accountability

Read more about the article The Value of Checklists

The Value of Checklists

Checklists? Those lists I prepare each day and don’t help me get everything done – don’t really need to know more about them … or do you mean those checklists that airline pilots use to keep me from getting killed? Now, those I like.

Some of you will remember an earlier post in the GTD context about the value of checklists. Now comes the book, The Checklist Manifesto, inspired by issues found in operating rooms but expanded to the many areas where simple checklists are invaluable.

Checklists couldn’t be simpler. (more…)

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Read more about the article Accountability | Powerful After Action Reviews

Accountability | Powerful After Action Reviews

Man with sack over his headMany years ago when we lived in the Midwest, we became very good friends with a young couple down the street.

He was a fellow fraternity brother, from another college, but I remember him as a very capable physician with a unique ability to describe complex medical subjects in layman’s language.

After Action Reviews are for Learning NOT Blame

One day, he asked me if I’d like to go to work with him on Saturday. He’d show me around, we’d have lunch, hang out. He couldn’t leave for lunch, but he would bring along some homemade sandwiches, bologna with lots of ketchup, he said, and I could sit in his pathology lab as he performed an autopsy … and while he was cutting and sawing, we would enjoy our lunch together.

It was when he started laughing that I realized why my vision of an overloaded bologna sandwich, dripping with ketchup alongside an autopsy table, was kicking up a firestorm in my gut. I think that’s how many business executives view an After Action Review (AAR) — a gruesome business designed to relive the pain of failed projects.  (more…)

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Read more about the article Taxachusetts? Not this time!

Taxachusetts? Not this time!

As you know, Scott Brown, a Republican, defeated the Democratic candidate to fill Sen. Ted Kennedy’s U.S. Senate seat, a stunning reversal of Massachusetts trends of the last 50 years, for a seat that the Dems thought they couldn’t lose.

While there is certain to be a lot of political fallout and spin doctors massaging the message, it’s hard to argue that the health care reform razzle-dazzle isn’t part of it. As I’ve said before, I doubt that there’s a single American, let alone a U.S. Senator, who could even tell you, clearly and plainly, what the bill looks like today.

You can find other articles in Sword Tips discussing some of these provisions, and the lack of cost-saving provisions. I think what Americans resent is the enormous resources devoted to an omnibus bill of gargantuan proportions, unread by virtually all, that has jumped ahead of job creation and economic stability for so many Americans. (more…)

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Read more about the article Vol. 56: The Power of Personal Accountability

Vol. 56: The Power of Personal Accountability

sword1The Power of One concept is not new — it’s the bedrock of everything from motivational speeches to Army One.

There’s an entire industry devoted to the power we have over our destiny.

In the context of Building a Business, we can view the Power of One as a series of concentric circles that ripple outward from the center … from where we stand as business leaders.

[pullquote]“God grant me the courage to change the things I can, the serenity to accept the things I can’t and the wisdom to know the difference.” – Reinhold Nieburh[/pullquote]

With a stagnant economy that has brought many businesses to their knees, we’ve been inundated with economic data, shards of doubt and glimmers of hope. While we can’t ignore these external forces, we can’t allow them to deter our commitment to reclaiming control of our agenda.

As a result, there’s no better topic with which to start than personal accountability, the singular touchstone of professional success over which we have the greatest control. (more…)

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