Book Summary Preview :
Accountability

The Big Idea

Accountability is one of the best written management books that advocate freedom and responsibility without control in managing business organizations that achieves sustainable results in sales growth and overall bottom line performance for many industries.

This advocacy professes the belief in granting individuals in a business organization the right and the freedom to make choices that allows people to be personally responsible in their jobs when they are allowed to design and own their jobs, and to create their systems. And for leaders to have faith in their people by believing that everyone wants to be great and that they be trusted to do great things.

Control based thinking asserts that controls establish accountability while freedom based thinking says that control stifles accountability and leads to cheating, shortcuts, and passive aggressive behavior to achieve results that in turn defeats accountability.

Whereas freedom based environment leads to more productive results in business enterprises since it offers “intrinsic” rewards that sustains accountability at all levels while control based environment offers “extrinsic” rewards that are themselves subtler forms of control to achieve results.

Prologue: A New Journey Begins:

Stan Kiplinger (Kip), a retired CEO of National Stores joins Pete Williams, a young hard charging CEO in a train trip from snowstorm bound Denver to Los Angeles. On the way, Pete unburdened to Kip his business problems of running his company and staying in business while launching into many drastic changes to keep his company from going belly up.

Kip, in turn, shared his idea of a freedom based environment to managing his company versus the traditional control based environment which Kip thought could help Pete turn around his company.

Pete felt that he needs to be further convinced on the freedom based philosophy that Kip is advocating.

Part One
The Control versus Freedom Dilemma

Chapter 1: I’m Pedaling As Fast As I Can, But It’s Not Fast Enough!”

Kip’s awakening came from a mild heart attack that forced him to rethink his corporate philosophy as CEO of National Stores for the last 17 years switching from a control-based business environment to a freedom-based business environment.

This recent brush with death compelled him to rethink his management style or face an early death.

Pete admitted to Kip that he is in the same dilemma and that his Board has even assigned a CFO to keep an eye on things with the operations of his company.

Kip shared his idea with Pete that implementing a “freedom based environment” in his company lead to achieving sustainable bottom line results that is a far better solution for him and his employees. . . . . . .