QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability in Work and in Life

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com Review
QBQ! by John G. Miller is a motivational primer aimed at purging the "blame, complaining, and procrastination" from the workplace. Miller believes that one of the hallmarks of today's business culture is a lack of personal accountability; he prescribes the cure in this series of short stories and personal observations drawn from his years of experience running his organizational development firm. His main point is that positive change begins with individuals changing themselves: "Instead of asking, 'When will others walk their talk?' let's walk our talk first." The result is choppy (39 chapters in 115 pages), and at times Miller's advice boils down to truism and cliche. Nevertheless, managers whose workplaces demand remedial, straightforward advice should find a useful tool here. --Harry C. Edwards

Product Description
Who Moved My Cheese? showed readers how to adapt to change.

Fish! helped raise flagging morale.

Execution guided readers to overcome the inability to get things done.

QBQ! The Question Behind the Question, already a phenomenon in its self-published edition, addresses the most important issue in business and society today: personal accountability.

The lack of personal accountability has resulted in an epidemic of blame, complaining, and procrastination. No organization-or individual-can achieve goals, compete in the marketplace, fulfill a vision, or develop people and teams without personal accountability.

The solution involves an entirely new approach. We can no longer ask, "Who dropped the ball?" "Why can't they do their work properly?" or "Why do we have to go through all these changes?" Instead, every individual has to ask the question behind the question: "How can I improve this situation?" "What can I contribute?" or "How can I make a difference?"

Succinct, insightful, and practical, QBQ! The Question Behind the Question provides a method for putting personal accountability into daily action, which can bring astonishing results: problems get solved, barriers come down, service improves, teamwork grows, and people adapt to change.

Customer Reviews: Read 179 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Small book, big impact December 6, 2004
40 out of 45 found this review helpful

After reading a few pages, I'm hooked. This book takes about an hour to read and has a lifelong impact. The title implies exploring other questions based on the original question. However, the real story is about personal accountability in work and life.

Rather than doing what comes naturally for many of us and becoming defensive and pointing fingers, the book changes your mode of thinking from "It's his fault" to "How can I fix this?" For example, in a restaurant, a diner is waiting for his waiter to come to the table. He catches the attention of a waiter who says, "This isn't my table" and walks off. The diner can only hope the waiter went to alert the person who is responsible for his table.

A waiter who uses QBQ thinking would help the diner rather than dodging the table just because it's not his table. Such action has positive results on both the waiter and the customer.

In another story, a cashier pays for the customer's under $3 purchase as her register didn't have enough to provide change. This action resulted in the store getting 100 percent of the customer's business.

The book grabbed me and I applied QBQ thinking the day after reading it. It feels much better to take the QBQ route instead of responding defensively. Check the QBQ site for more examples and details (http://www.qbq.com).

5 out of 5 stars

Another great simple book with high impact August 18, 2005
21 out of 23 found this review helpful

This book was recommended to me by a new friend Rini from BP, and i love it. I read it just in a two hours flight ( i am not a fast reader!), finishing it right when the plane landed, and i kind of feel very motivated and enpowered!

In the simple similar tradition of One Minute Manager, Fish, and other simple to read business book, this one has one great idea about how we should ask questions.

In a nutshell:
1. Begin with "WHAT" or "HOW", and not "Why", "When, or "Who".
2. Contain an "I"
3. Focus on Action.

So, instead of: " When are we going to be more competitive?", use: " What can i do today to be more effective?".
Or, instead of " Who will care as much as I do?", use "How can I communicate better?"

QBQ is a simple powerful technique that will improve the way you see life. John Miller has a whole organisation build into training it.

Even that the way they write is way different, i would like to compare the idea of QBQ as such similar power with One Minute Manager. It's easy to teach, easy to implement, and have great return if people start using it.

So, for 2 hours easy reading that might change your life for the better, you have nothing to lose, get a copy.

3 out of 5 stars

Ask the best questions to invite the best solutions August 21, 2003
20 out of 22 found this review helpful

The quality of the questions we ask determines the quality of our results. If we ask mediocre questions we invite mediocre solutions and if we ask extraordinary questions, we invite extraordinary solutions. This book asks good questions, but the questions are supoptimal. ie they leave room for unexplored alternatives and do not lead us directly to the best solution.

The best book on the market on this topic is Optimal Thinking by Rosalene Glickman, Ph.D., where the reader is provided with relevant Optimal questions, and learns how to formulate and ask the best questions to invite the best possible solutions.

1 out of 5 stars No profound insight here ! November 14, 2003
19 out of 22 found this review helpful

First I want to give credit where credit is due. There is truth in this book in that many people look to place the blame for their unhappiness, inadequacies and feelings of helplessness on other people or circumstances supposedly beyond their control. The real truth is that we only control ourselves and not perfectly at that. Further, we only have the ability to influence, not control others. Having said this, the beneficial part of this book can be summed up in the following statement. If we learn in each situation not to try to find whom or what to blame, since we have no control over others, but rather how we can take control of the situation and resolve it ourselves, we will greatly reduce the feeling of helplessness we experience. More simply stated learn to ask in each situation "What steps must I take to resolve this?" By doing this you take charge of your life putting yourself back in control. Also notable is the fact that chapter 36 "Wisdom" is the shortest chapter in the book. Chapter 37 "We Buy Too Many Books" applies to this book.

1 out of 5 stars If it wasn't for the "reviews" I never would have bought it June 8, 2004
19 out of 21 found this review helpful

I'm having trouble understanding why this book received good reviews. They must be fake and the book has no meat or original content. In reality, it's more the length of an article turned into a book and is mostly an advertisement to buy additional products. I bought it because my HR Department recommended we read it. We're a small company and moves like that will probably keep us that way. I have seen more in depth reading in the Enquirer. You can get more information on the workplace at websites that offer it for free!

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