The 85% Solution

NO NONSENSE. NO EXCUSES. A STRAIGHT-TALKING ACCOUNTABILITY EXPERT DELIVERS A TIMELY NEW BOOK ON PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY.

By Linda Galindo

Imagine that you're lying on a cold metal gurney in a hospital operating room.

Four others are there, too: the anesthesiologist who will soon render you unconscious; the orthopedic surgeon who will repair the damaged disk in your back; the scrub nurse who will pass sterile instruments to the surgeon; and the circulating nurse who will watch over your safety.

Already woozy from the anesthesia, you hear the two nurses arguing. The circulating nurse thinks that the scalpels haven't been sufficiently sterilized. "Mind your own business," retorts the scrub nurse. "I know how to do my job."

The circulating nurse takes her worries to the anesthesiologist. "Leave me out of it," he tells her. "That's not my responsibility." So, she turns to the surgeon, but before she can say anything, he snaps, "Quiet! It's time to start." As you lose consciousness, the scrub nurse hands a scalpel to the surgeon.

Which one of those four professionals is responsible for the condition of that scalpel? Is it the scrub nurse whose job it is to sterilize it? The circulating nurse in charge of looking out for your safety? The anesthesiologist who rendered you unable to speak up? Or the surgeon who used it to slice through your skin?

Suppose you wake up with a serious infection from the incision. Now which member of the team will you hold accountable? The scrub nurse? He believed that the scalpel was clean. The anesthesiologist? She isn't in charge of the instruments. The circulating nurse? She tried to tell everyone. The surgeon? He didn't know anything was amiss.

If just one of these people is responsible, does that mean the others aren't? Perhaps each of the four is one-quarter responsible for your infection.

Sound good? Next time you need surgery, will it be good enough to know that each individual is willing to take one-quarter of the responsibility for making sure that you're free from harm—that you don't die on the table?

"Enough!" exclaims accountability expert Linda Galindo, author of The 85% Solution: How Personal Accountability Guarantees Success—No Nonsense, No Excuses (Jossey-Bass, 2009, $22.95).

Galindo is a woman on a mission—fired up to ignite a national conversation on personal accountability. Fed up with widespread irresponsibility—in business, politics, sports, entertainment, you name it—she argues that Americans are starving for accountability.

A consultant specializing in individual and leadership accountability, Galindo asserts that the only true accountability is "personal accountability" and that unless you own at least 85% of the responsibility before the outcomes of your decisions—your choices, your actions, your behaviors—you, in all probability, blame your problems and failures on other people, outside circumstances, or just plain bad luck.

In The 85% Solution, Galindo reveals personal accountability as not only a mind-set, but also a skill-set that everyone can learn. She introduces an essential three-step process: responsibility (being 100% responsible for a result before you even take action); self-empowerment (taking the actions and risks to get what you want); and personal accountability (answering for the outcome of your choices). Galindo also provides an eye-opening self-assessment tool and presents specific, straightforward tips for everyday life—the workplace, career development, personal growth, relationships, and more. Additionally, she illuminates real-world examples of accountability—the good, the bad, and the ugly. More:

• The most common excuses for shirking accountability—and how to avoid them
  
  
• Why you are 100% responsible for a team result, not just for your part
  
  
• 10 ways to "self-empower" at work—owning your attitude, time, and words
  
  
• What to do when you mess up, and why lies and cover-ups make it worse
  
  
• How to make accountability an organization's central organizing principle
  
  

Bottom line: Personal accountability is sorely lacking—but urgently needed—in our lives and across our society. Galindo delivers new, no-nonsense solutions and shows individuals and organizations how to own up and succeed.

Linda Galindo is an accountability expert and author of The 85% Solution: How Personal Accountability Guarantees Success—No Nonsense, No Excuses (Jossey-Bass, 2009, $22.95).

Founder and president of Galindo Consulting, Inc., Galindo advises CEOs, leadership teams, and boards of directors in making personal accountability their organizations' central organizing principle. She works with a variety of business, government, and non-profit organizations—from Abbott Laboratories to the Sundance Institute—and is a widely respected specialist in the healthcare industry, regularly consulting with leadership in hospitals, insurance groups, and medical technology companies.

Galindo is a faculty member of the Governance Institute, Medical Leadership Institute, and Institute for Management Studies, and in 2011 just completed her service as a Board Member for the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) Center for Public Trust.

A former broadcast journalist, she is a frequent media source and a sought-after keynote speaker. She lives in Park City, Utah.