By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
For years we have included in the Ronnie column references to various books that the mayor has been reading, and often they are the works of keynote speakers he has personally heard and had to chance to speak with. Some are connected to the nuts and bolts of running actual cities, some have been the works of great coaches like John Wooden, some are written by thought leaders like Stephen Covey or Alabama’s own Andy Andrews, and we realized it had “been a minute” since we had done a book series.
So, two came up, both written by the same team of authors, and both are timely given the climate in our culture. They are Crucial Questions and Crucial Accountability. Department heads in the City of Athens have just gone through a training program regarding Crucial Questions, and Crucial Accountability is the natural follow on. As the mayor said, “Both topics affect public safety, and public safety has got to be at a high level.”
One of the things Mayor Ronnie has done to begin to impart the skill sets necessary to ask the right questions, hold others accountable, and most importantly hold oneself accountable is have mock meetings with role playing at the Mayor’s Youth Commission meetings. “We have to learn and to teach how to respond, and not react.”
The books, while hard hitting, are also humorous, and Chapter Two of Accountability starts with a quip from George Carlin: “Have you ever noticed: Anybody going slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac.” Then the rest of the chapter title sets up the hard work—“How to Get Your Head Right Before Opening Your Mouth.” Ouch. That’s a skill we all need to first develop and then improve.
The goal, interestingly, is to become curious and avoid the all too familiar approach of “telling ugly stories.” From page 61:
“Admitting that a problem might stem from several different sources will change our whole approach. We aren’t certain, we aren’t smug, we aren’t angry, and we slow down. We’re curious instead of boiling mad. We feel the need to gather more data rather than charge in ‘guns a-blazin’.’ We move from judge, jury, and executioner to curious participant.”
This is not to imply that there is no room for correction or confrontation, or that actions don’t have consequences. It just means that research over a 25-year period has proven that the best outcomes in families, companies, organizations and, yes, cities occur when time is taken to gather the facts. “Not only do you need to get your head right, and your mouth right,” said the mayor, “but you need to get your facts right.”
Another blurb from the book states what learning the skills will accomplish:
“Broken promises, missed deadlines, poor behavior–they don’t just make others’ lives miserable; they can sap up to 50 percent of organizational performance and account for the vast majority of divorces. Crucial Accountability offers the tools for improving relationships in the workplace and in life and for resolving all these problems–permanently.”
These are high goals, and worthy of learning how to achieve. We prayed that we would learn the lessons well, and then once again, it was time for Ronnie to roll.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
June 20, 2025
