1. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I am a best selling business writer/publisher and executive coach. I also work with CEOs and senior executives as a management consultant to design and direct programs of strategy development, enterprise transformation and change at
www.diworrall.com.au. I really get switched on to go for goals where I can use my skills to inspire as many people as possible to go for what they really want personally and in business. I do this by sharing what I have come to understand are the real secrets to personal and business transformation and change that last the distance.
My latest book on Accountability Leadership is not just another business book for me. It was inspired a long time ago by a professional “epiphany” I experienced in my first senior executive post as an HR Director of a large government organisation. As an executive team, we were working on one of the biggest projects in the 50 year history of the organisation. The project was heading downhill fast and it was clear to me that our failure as an executive team to hold one another accountable was setting up our entire organisation to fail.
By addressing our own issues of accountability, we turned the project onto its head and made a remarkable profit. It is remarkable enough that a senior executive team would work together in this way. But even more surprising was that the simple but profound change in our behaviours went viral as the employees in our respective divisions started to intuitively follow suit, modelling our new behaviours.
I found this early accountability lesson one of the most profound of my career, and a personal catalyst for change. I have since developed a personal and professional mantra about what I see as the number-one issue that makes or breaks leadership performance today:
"The degree to which you have developed the capacity to hold your organisation and its people accountable for the delivery of results is directly proportional to your capacity to either build--or haemorrhage--value from your organisation."
Inspired by that early experience, I developed an enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge relating to the new science of accountability and how it is a virtually untapped goldmine of opportunity in successful business and personal transformation.
2. Describe your book ‘Accountability Leadership’ in 30 words or less.
In Accountability Leadership, you will discover how great leaders are tapping into the new science of accountability to build a high performance culture of accountability and responsibility.
3. What was the hardest part of writing your book?
Letting go of the draft manuscript in order to seek honest feedback from a panel of peers before publishing
4. What books have had the greatest influence on you?
I love authors who cover topics on leadership, trend spotting and inspiration including:
Marshall Goldsmith – What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
Dan Pink – Drive, the Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
Marcus Buckingham – Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieving Outstanding Performance
Malcolm Gladwell – The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Stephen Covey – The Speed of Trust
Simon Sinek - Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
John Demartini – The Gratitude Effect
I also read anything which adds to my understand of publishing and marketing books from authors such as Ryan Deiss, Chris Guierriero, Brian McFall, Steve Harrison, Michael Alvear, Dan Poynter, Brendon Burchard.
5. Briefly share with us what you do to market your book?
The Amazon KDP Select Program and an army of free kindle sites proved a very successful choice in driving Accountability Leadership from the obscurity of 470,000 to #1 in the Leadership category. Following the extraordinary visibility created through the launch, the Amazon.com marketplace has done a steady job of promoting the book and its visibility on the best seller lists. I have found that it’s worth spending the extra effort to get together a compelling cover design, book description and author profile, together with some great honest reviews before you launch your new title.
I am still experimenting with various social media applications including Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Utube, Google+ and Linked In. I post regularly to these sites and also have a list of newsletter subscribers which have built up over the years. I also have a dedicated book page on my business website as well as a blog, book trailer and cool tools like book widgets from BookBuzzr. You can see them at
http://www.diworrall.com.au/book
More positive book reviews, monthly promotions and a blogging tour are next on my agenda.
6. How do you spend your time when you are not writing?
When I am not working on a big writing or publishing project, I work on management consulting and executive coaching assignments. I work with CEOs and senior executives to design and direct programs of strategy development, enterprise transformation and change.
7. What are you working on next?
I am working on the next book in the Accountability Leadership series which is the companion guide to Accountability Leadership.
Our working title/subtitle is: The Accountability Workbook: A step by step guide to success through Personal and Team Goal Setting and Business Planning using the new science of Accountability
We are also in the middle of converting the current kindle title, Accountability Leadership into paperback and audio formats.
