Book Review – How Did That Happen – by Roger Connors and Tom Smith

30th August 2009, 07:41 am

This is a book review of How Did That Happen: Holding People Accountable For Results The Positive Principled Way, a business book by Roger Connors and Tom Smith.

How I got the book:

Advance proof copy (which I’m keeping) sent to me on behalf of the authors.

Background:

Roger Connors and Tom Smith are the partners and founders of Partners In Leadership, Inc., a company that specializes in accountability training, education, etc. This is their third book.

Put simply, this book is about accountability in organizations: when it goes right, when it goes wrong, and how to keep it from going wrong. On the surface, accountability seems to be a simple thing. However, human nature doesn’t make it easy, especially when there can be downsides, at least in the short term, to being the person who has to take the blame and make things right when things go wrong. The authors propose a series of steps called the Accountability Sequence to help teach managers, leaders, and executives to both teach and follow principles of accountability in their organizations.

The strengths:

The Accountability Sequence, while it seems like it should be obvious, does provide a clear and useful model of what accountability is and how to teach it. I like the fact that it emphasizes that accountability is not something that you delegate without some form of follow up. The case studies and annecdotes are useful and timely (two of the initial examples are the handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans; and the global financial crisis that hit us all hard in 2008).

Really, though, how can you not like or respect a book that tries to teach accountability in a clear way?

The areas for improvement

The authors were doubtlessly restricted by confidentiality agreements, but the case studies using ficticious names were less compelling than those with the names of real people and real companies.

Other points of interest:

The previous two books, The Oz Principle and Journey to the Emerald City, cover similar territory.

Verdict (8 out of 10): (definitely worth checking out; a useful resource for developing creativity and innovation)

My methodology for book reviews and affiliate links: I’ll provide an Amazon.com affiliate link (or other related affiliate link) for content if I think it’s worth buying and reading. If I don’t, I won’t provide an affiliate link. The affiliate link helps fund my content creation activities.

If you would like me to review YOUR eBook, book, or other content, please send me an E-Mail at markdykeman@gmail.com to get instructions on how to send your book or content to me. You’ll get my honest opinion about your book, either publicly or privately.