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No Excuses Driving: 13 QBQ! Rules for the Road

Here lies the body of Jonathan J.,
Who died maintaining the right-of-way,
He was right, dead right, as he rode along,
But just as dead as if he had been wrong.

(“No Excuses!” – Ch. 9 of Flipping the Switch

Bill is a professional driver. Bill drives people all around. Bill drives a lot. Bill picked me up at the Detroit airport and drove me an hour north to a hotel for my “Personal Accountability and the QBQ!” speaking engagement. Bill and I have a bunch in common:

Why We REALLY Work! (It’s not about the money)

“It really does come down to having a good work ethic, and no organization can be outstanding without it. Let’s work!”

Chapter 22, Outstanding!

“Dad, why do we work?”

Charlene, our 18-year-old, didn’t ask that exact question, but she might have. Here’s our conversation:

“But … it wasn’t my fault!”

“To DEFLECT is human, to REFLECT is accountability.”

@QBQGuy

Got spam? I sure do. Sadly, I’ve learned to tolerate it much of it, hoping it goes straight into my “trash” folder. But yesterday, I got a “spammy” email that looked and felt somewhat legit. From a firm selling phone services, the sender was Matthew and it started like this:

How to Succeed!

In spite of the precious child pictured below, this message is not about QBQ! parenting (but this was). Also, be forewarned: We will be mixing our metaphors today! Lastly, stick around till the end where we apply the content. I mean, isn’t that what it’s all about? Enjoy!

Rebecca “Becca Boo” Elizabeth Lindeen – born 9/21/12

Metaphor #1:

After Kristin, our firstborn, arrived in 1983, I began carrying a Canon AE-1 camera everywhere I went, exclaiming, “That’s a picture!” Drove my wife, Karen, nuts.

But it’s what new dads do.

Thirty years later, with an ever-present smart phone in my pocket, I see stuff everywhere and exclaim, “That’s a blog!”

It’s what old authors do.

Accountability: The First Brick of Success

I love this brick. I paid $10 for it in 1982.

Brick

It came from the Anaconda Mining Company smokestack in Great Falls, Montana. The “Great Stack,” as it was called, was built in 1908 and was 585 feet tall—quite a feat for the times. Karen and I were lucky enough to be living in Great Falls in September 1982 when a demolition crew detonated charges to bring it down while the whole city watched.

But it didn’t go quite as planned. This is how the Great Falls Tribune described the moment:

Relationships: Being Different is Okay

Wedding John (age 22) and Karen (19) on June 21, 1980

Karen Elizabeth Giles Miller has many roles …

“Best friend” to John since 1976
“Mrs. Miller” since 1980.
“Mom” to seven children (four from the stork and three by adoption)
“Grandma Nonnie” to Joshua, Becca Boo, and McKenna
“Girlfriend” to many women; “mentor/teacher” to several
“Co-author” of Parenting the QBQ Way
“Birthday girl” on Oct 20th

And one other title that fits her well:

Personal Accountability: Doing My Job

I asked Molly, our twentysomething daughter, who has served as captain of soccer and basketball teams, “Molly, in your opinion, what makes an effective team?” I was honestly just curious what she’d say; it wasn’t like I was doing book research! But I loved her answer: “Everyone taking care of their own stuff, Dad. Everybody working hard at doing their job.” I appreciated her thought so much, it went into Outstanding! under the chapter titled, “Work!”

Flip the Switch: Eliminate Exclusion

Flipping the Switch … Unleash the Power of Personal Accountability

In Flipping the Switch, the companion book to QBQ!, we teach five “Roadblocks to Learning.” One of them is Exclusion, and it’s all about when we, based on our faulty assumptions of people around us, fail to learn from them.

My story:

Personal Accountability: Fixing Me!

When I do a radio, TV, or podcast interview, I’m often asked this question:

“John, what is the number one take-away for people who read the QBQ! book or go through a ‘Personal Accountability and the QBQ!’ training session?”

I always answer, “Oh, that’s easy: I can only change me.”

Want Change? Lose the Consultants, Ask QBQs

After 28 years of calling on senior executives, I want to scream …

STOP THE MADNESS! LOSE THE CONSULTANTS!

I just returned from speaking on “Personal Accountability and the QBQ!” in Europe. In my travels, I met several people who told me their employer currently has “change management” consultants* (Old joke: A consultant is someone who borrows my watch and tells me what time it is!) roaming their hallways, holding small employee meetings, and leading executives to and through mountaintop retreats.

And my guess is, the consultants are working from a definition of “organizational culture” that sounds something like this: