Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

The Academy and the Company
Having experienced this phenomenon over the last year or so, I can safely attest to its accuracy. The shift between academic life and business life is stark, challenging, and effulgent.

The scholarly life requires deep rumination, careful consideration, and an ability to distill complexity into simplicity so that others might learn. In terms of delivery, the academic certainly has deadlines, but responsibility falls on one’s self. There are no clear and present responsibilities toward others; only your grade is on the line.

Business, on the other hand, remains rooted in thought, but holds a fiduciary responsibility to others. To succeed, one must connect strategy with action. You must constantly prove your worth to those with which you hold agreements. Failure to execute means failure to remain gainfully employed.

While I mean no harm to the academic life and I admit I will always continue my scholarly pursuits, I bring up the differences between business and the academy to accent a central point: those in business are in constant need of linking thought to action, or put differently, practice what they’ve promised.

With Execution, Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan provide a framework for getting things done in the business world.

How to Practice What You’ve Promised

Whether a Fortune 500 leader or a small business CEO, Bossidy and Charan contend that the greatest challenge for leaders is to move from effective strategy to flawless application.

Brainstorming is easy; outlining opportunities is simple. But when it comes to follow through, the Devil is in the details as it is said.

“Execution is not just tactics—it is a discipline and a system. It has to be built into a company’s strategy, its goals, and its culture” (6).

Bossidy and Charan suggest a systematic, hands-on approach from leaders. Too much distance and employees have no direction. Too suffocating an approach and employees cannot work creatively to bring perspective to a project.

“The leader must be in charge of getting things done by running the three core processes—picking other leaders, setting the strategic direction, and conducting operations. These actions are the substance of execution, and leaders cannot delegate them regardless of the size of the organization” (24).

While a leader must be involved to ensure execution, she must learn to ask the right questions to help her employees remain on track. She must also follow up. Her employees need to know the plan, to understand the process for reviews, and to have a clear sense of deliverables connected to a concrete timeline. With anything less, employees feel lost in a sea of ambiguity.

A Culture of Execution

Stated in an earlier quote, execution also entails properly defined culture. The leader must engrain the philosophy of execution into the fabric of a firm. This process might mean firing some people—inevitably, not everyone holds the same values and regrettably, not everyone wants to contribute to results. The ability to diagnose problems and to work with people to help them find a vocational fit will not only influence bottom-line results, but it will also contribute to healthy morale.

Ultimately, any business is a collection of human beings. Your culture is directly tied to people.

“An organization’s human beings are its most reliable resource for generating excellent results year after year. Their judgments, experiences, and capabilities make the difference between success and failure” (109).

To generate a healthy culture, a leader must know his people, he must engage in open dialogue with them, and ultimately he must have faith that they can get things done.

Getting Things Done

As I am currently discovering, execution is a learned trait, not a talent. With dedication, theories become results, recommendations turn to actions, and ultimately, execution precedes success. With the utmost respect for the academic world, it takes experience in the crucible of the marketplace to truly understand how to deliver in a timely manner and with quality. If you are looking for some guidance on how not only to organize your business life, go read Execution.

Originally published at http://www.wherepenmeetspaper.com

This was a pretty good book, but it didn't contain anything that I considered "new" material. It reminded me of the Peter Drucker books I read in the 1980s and 90s. If you are unfamiliar with business management literature, this can be a good intro. There are many things pointed out that are often overlooked in business and will certainly be of help if you are in a management (supervisory or planning) position in a medium to large company. For me, however, this was old hat.

This is a vintage read from the early 2000s. It is directed towards CEOs and those who want to be CEOs. All that aside, I enjoyed it and I have retrieved some useful nuggets of information that I am able to apply in my current position which is far from the CEO suite. It is a good thing to view the world of work from the top level instead of the trenches. It tends to help put things into perspective for us working guys.

Honestly, the rating would be shy of 4 (if there was an option to go with 3.5, that is what I would choose). Two things I learnt outside of what I read in this book - a) if the Goodreads rating is much less than 4, it is probably for a reason, b) Not all recommendations should be trusted.

The book does make some good points about superior execution through a trifecta of people, strategy and operations. But I feel a lot of this is known ideas - only articulated in words here. The authors also do end up rambling in quite a few places - e.g. when talking about memos sent to leaders in their respective organizations. Plus, stay "high level" in select chapters e.g. operationalization of strategic plan (ironical that that is what they caution leaders against).

For what it's worth, I did make some notes as I went along:

⁃ you cant hand over the people process to HR, you need to manage the reviews / careers
⁃ Fastrack and reward those that do well ; ask questions to open up horizons

Building blocks - 3
Leadership behaviors

⁃ Know your people and your business: reviewing people’s work is a way of showing them that you care
⁃ Insist on realism: dont be disengaged with your company and market realities
⁃ Set clear goals / priorities: leader should have at best 4-5 priorities which guide the organization
⁃ Follow through
⁃ Reward the doers
⁃ Expand people’s capabilities through coaching
⁃ Know yourself : be ready to accept your mistakes / better ideas, avoid building a coterie of yay-sayers, be authentic

Changing the culture of an org
⁃ question the fundamental beliefs (which drive behaviors) than the values (which are rarely wrong)
⁃ Link performance to rewards. You should reward not only the achievement in numbers, but also the right behaviors. Also non financial goals (building the right org, diversity etc.)
⁃ Reward in year performance with cash, reward potential with stock options
⁃ It is important to work on both the hardware and the software of the org

Leader’s role in people development
⁃ Leaders need to spend at least 40 percent of their time and emotional energy in selecting, appraising and developing people
⁃ Leaders need to be high energy
⁃ Leaders need to make tough decisions even if unpopular
⁃ Leaders get things done through others.

Three key processes in the org:

People processes
⁃ most organization’s people processes are backward looking. They evaluate performance rather than potential
⁃ Leadership assessment is a mix of both performance and behaviors (eg collaboration). Plus also looks at continuous improvement (focuses on development needs), retention risk and succession depth (are there high potential people to take over key leadership roles)
⁃ Assessing capability on four key areas : functional skills, business skills, management skills, leadership skills

Strategy process
⁃ It should be possible to describe the strategy of a business unit on a page, listing out its “building blocks”
⁃ Milestones should be clearly laid out
⁃ It is important to balance both near term and long term when building a strategy. The short term actions should provide the fuel for driving long term objectives

Questions to ask in a strategy review
⁃ what is the competition up to and likely to do next eg which people are at the top / have been recently added, and what areas will they focus on.
⁃ Is the org geared up to deliver the strategy?
⁃ Is the plan scattered or focused?
⁃ Are we choosing the right ideas?
⁃ Is the strategic plan accounting for likely operational challenges

This book was a bizarre mix of really solid advice with things that, after reading Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A'S, Praise and Other Bribes absolutely grated on me. I made it half way through in 6 weeks and threw in the towel. Too many other books to be read.

This is my first read of 2025! I have had this book on my TBR list for a while now and am glad I finally flipped the last page.

In Execution, Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan emphasize that execution is not just about making plans—it is the lifeblood that turns strategy into reality. The book argues that many organizations fail not because they lack good strategies but because they struggle to implement them effectively. According to the authors, execution is a systematic process that links people, strategy, and operations, ensuring that businesses consistently deliver results.


The authors highlight that three essential components underpin execution:

1. People – The right people must be in the right roles, with clear expectations and accountability. Execution starts with leaders who know their teams intimately and develop them to perform at their best.

2. Strategy – A well-crafted strategy is only useful if it is realistic, actionable, and continuously adapted based on execution feedback. Leaders must translate high-level strategies into clear goals that can be acted upon.

3. Operations – Day-to-day activities, processes, and resource allocations must be aligned with strategic objectives. Leaders must focus on setting priorities, monitoring performance, and ensuring that execution remains a discipline within the organization.


For these three processes to work together effectively, organizations need what the authors call "social software"—the culture, habits, and mechanisms that drive execution. This includes:

1. Robust Dialogue – Open and candid discussions where employees and leaders can challenge assumptions, debate ideas, and align on decisions based on reality rather than hierarchy or politics.

2. Accountability – Ensuring that commitments made during planning translate into actions, with clear ownership of responsibilities and follow-through.

3. Personal Connection – Leaders must stay close to their teams, understand challenges at all levels and show employees how their contributions tie into the bigger strategic vision of the organization.

4. Emotional Fortitude: leaders with emotional fortitude actively engage with their teams, ask the right questions, and face uncomfortable truths about their organization’s performance. This honesty ensures that execution efforts are grounded in reality rather than wishful thinking.


Taken together, execution is a discipline, not an afterthought—it requires constant attention and adaptation.

Strategy without execution is meaningless; execution ensures that goals translate into real-world impact.

Leadership is deeply involved in execution—setting direction and ensuring teams stay aligned, motivated, and accountable.

Follow-through is critical—decisions must be made and carried out, tracked, and refined based on results.

Un libro que enseña el manejo multidisciplinar sobre los procesos, la gente y estrategias para definir un objetivo y como llevarlo a cabo en la práctica. Hace ver también la importancia global de las cosas para ver de diferente maneras las mejores decisiones a tomar y ejecutarlo.

While there are plenty of good ideas, the book is very business jargon heavy. Unless you are reading this book to improve your business practices as a leader, a lot of this may be go over your head or be irrelevant.