The other day when I posted my accountability dip post, I received an email newsletter from The Oz Principle people, specifically Partners In Leadership® – The Accountability Training® Company.

Of course this isn’t just coincidence. And, while I plead ignorance on The Oz Principle book (sorry), I did check it on Amazon.com and it looks very good, with very good reviews.

The exchange does remind me of a very short and sweet little book I read once on a one-hour plane trip: The One-Minute Manager. That was maybe 10 years ago, but what struck me then, and what I still remember now, was the simple logic of it:

1. Tell people what you expect from them. Make your expectations clear and specific.
2. Follow up. Track results.
3. Compare results to expectations, with the people you manage.

As I look back on more than 30 years in business, with over 20 of those years as president of my own company, I recognize that this kind of simple management has always been hard for me. Maybe I had too much Summer of 1966 Haight-Ashbury in me (if you know what that means). I think if I look at it honestly, I see that I tend to surround myself with motivated, self-starter people who don’t require that kind of management. I don’t think I was ever very good at giving people specific marching orders, much less at giving them real evaluation when that would require heavy negatives.

Maybe that’s why I write about accountability now, when it’s more theoretical.