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16th February 2007

Wisdom from John Miller

posted in leadership |

I had the opportunity to hear John Miller, author of “QBQ!: The question behind the question. What to really ask yourself. Practicing personal accountability in business and life” yesterday. These are some of my notes from his session.

I will first note that I wish more people would share their ideas under a Creative Commons license. At the bottom of his handout, John included the following statement (underlining in the original):

All rights reserved by QBQ, Inc. No reproduction of this outline is allowed without permission by QBQ, Inc.

If you have great ideas and you want to share them in this digital, flat world of ours, you should aspire to distribute them as far and wide as possible in the most accessible format possible.

That said, here are my notes from John’s session. Note I am NOT reproducing the text from his outline/handout in any form, I am sharing the notes I wrote on the back and in the margins of his handout.

Great salespeople are great storytellers and great teachers.

The human mind thinks in pictures not text.

Repetition is the motor of learning.

Essential questions to ask in every context:
- What can I do to contribute?
- How can I make a difference?

Parenting never ends.

We tend to teach others what we need to hear ourselves.

The ultimate QBQ (question behind the question): How can I let go of those things I can’t control?

Don’t blame that which is beyond your control.

What holds me back most often are the opinions of others.

Believe or Leave: Selling is a transference of belief.

The fewer the code words, the better the working culture.

Who really shapes our kids? We do and should as parents. Let’s stop the excuses.

Victim thinking doesn’t serve anyone.

Procrastination is the friend of failure.

Nothing puts joy into the heart of a child like a happy marriage. :-)
Learning = change
Learning ≠ attending

Where two or more are gathered there will be blame.

Entitlement thinking predominates
- we don’t DESERVE stuff, we EARN stuff

Is having fun at work legal?
- some supervisors seem to say (in effect) to their people: “Stop smiling. Get back to work. Make more calls.”

Problems are in the past. Solutions are NOW.

Ask your kids how you an help them achieve THEIR goals.

Instead of asking “Why am I here?” ask “How can I apply what I am learning?”

John started his talk by asking the audience: “How many of you are leaders?”
- leadership is not about title, position or tenure
- being a friend can be all about leadership

The Titanic disaster was an example of human arrogance encountering uncertainty

The #1 myth of accountability is: It’s a group / team thing
- the idea “there are no I’s in the word ‘team’” is based on a FALSE premise
- it IS all about me when it comes to personal accountability
- “shared accountability” is an oxymoron
- don’t blame the group/team when the goal isn’t accomplished

When you play country music backwards you get your dog, wife, and truck back

2nd myth of accountability: We think it is something we hold others to

“Being human” is a baseline. Don’t use it as an excuse for inappropriate or unwanted behavior.

We have the motivation, we need the tools to navigate the day.

Humility is the cornerstone of leadership.

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 16th, 2007 at 10:02 pm and is filed under leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

There are currently 2 responses to “Wisdom from John Miller”

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  1. 1 On February 17th, 2007, pete reilly said:

    It’s so easy to see what is lacking in others and what needs to be changed in them, and yet we are blind to our own accountability. When we refrain from pointing out the failures of others and embrace our own accountability, we are shedding the role of victim, and stepping into our own power.

    True, there is no guarantee that we will succeed. Sometimes it’s just easier to ignore the problem, there are plenty of things to keep us busy. Yes, it would be great if we had an inspirational leader like Martin Luther King Jr. to be accountable for leading us… to have a dream that we could follow…

    …but we also need the Rosa Parks of the world to take action.

    If we, who understand the value of technology in learning, don’t take action, then who will? If we are going to move beyond the educational technology status quo, each of us must be accountable and step into our own greatness, no matter our title, no matter our role.

    We do this, not for ourselves; but for a generation of children that look to us for leadership and change.

    pete

  2. 2 On February 22nd, 2007, Moving at the Speed of Creativity » Blog Archive » More than the 3 R’s? said:

    [...] We’re living in a remarkably dynamic time for learning and living, and it shouldn’t surprise us that so many people (and institutions) are slow to change. Like John Miller shared last week, when we seek to change perceptions and paradigms of thinking it is best NOT to ask people, “Do you want to change your culture?” The answer to that question will almost always be “No!” Instead, I agree that we should focus on goals and shared learning objectives. [...]