If you can successfully navigate through the maze of the authors’ self righteousness, there are quite a few good takeaways in this book on strategies to get things done that have withstood the test of time.

В книге рассказывается про построение так называемой «культуры исполнения»:
- мотивация руководства работать на результат
- выстраивание контроля над выполнением планов на всей иерархии сотрудников
- взаимопомощь, наставничество, выращивание кадров, правильная расстановка кадров
- ответственность за взятые на себя обязательства, бесконечная работа над совершенствованием себя и бизнеса
- открытый диалог между всеми сотрудниками, особый упор на высказывание всех своих мыслей и откровенный разговор, обнажение всех проблем на совещаниях для построения реалистичных планов и прогнозов; но не забывать про общение с рядовыми сотрудниками тоже, часто они могут о многом сказать, а ваша открытость и прозрачность политики предприятия снизит накал волнения у них
- движение в сторону больше мобильности: сокращение запасов, большая открытость перед продавцами и поставщиками, быстрая корректировка планов и направления развития при внешних изменениях и разработка планов с учетом непредвиденных обстоятельств и невыполнения некоторых его пунктов
- выставление крайне оптимистичных, но выполнимых планов; поддержание всего бизнеса в тонусе и нацеливание на постоянный рост показателей
- повторюсь, но на это делается большой акцент: планы ставятся крупные, но они разрабатываются и потом согласовываются с непосредственными исполнителями, выясняются стратегии в случае невыполнения планов и оглашается список методов, с помощью которых эти планы планируется выполнить
- методы выполнения планов, вкупе с контролем выполнения приводит к разбиению большого плана компании на более мелкие контрольные точки/задачи, которые проще контролировать, которые ведут к результату постепенно, что позволяет, в свою очередь, быстро подстраиваться под ситуацию и разворачивать курс на 180 градусов
- поддержание производственного плана (цели в показателях, задачи) и стратегического плана (новые перспективы, планирование на будущее, вектор компании) в синхронизированном состоянии, ориентация на завтрашний день; задачи решаются более «позитивно», если исполнитель видит причины возникновения этой задачи и ее более глобальные результаты в стратегическом плане
- перемена оценки работы отделов от сравнения с прошлыми показателями к соответствию будущим, запланированным показателям, показателям конкурентов
- планы и действия обязательно сверяются с положением конкурентов, рынка и собственных кадров и возможностей фирмы; не стоит развивать новую технологию из смежной области, если у вас нет подходящих кадров, кому это под силу; не стоит открывать завод в азии, если нет человека, понимающего тамошнюю обстановку, тех людей, их законы и особенности, ну и политическую обстановку, конечно

В общем, ко��пания должна быть мобильна, контролируема, прозрачна, желающая совершенствоваться в каждом конкретном сотруднике, с выстроенной и справедливой системой мотивации.

Книга все же рассчитана, как и сказано на обложке книги, больше рассчитана на руководящий состав, чем на обычного читателя, из-за этого книга читается не очень приятно, хотя все разжевано и понятно, наблюдается какая-то затянутость и нудность особенно в раскрытии всяких известных (для людей, на которых нацелена книга) топ-менеджеров.

Но и далекому от этого человеку книга позволит взглянуть на постоянно меняющуюся бюрократию фирмы, в которой он работает, по-новому. Более лояльно, как минимум, а то и принять в этом более активное участие.

Обсуждая некоторые моменты из этой книги (а многое в ней актуализировано на 2001 год), высказываются мнения, что очень многое в ней уже устарело. А мое впечатление о том, что книга призывает руководящих лиц «спускаться на ступень ниже», узнавать как можно больше о людях в своем подчинении, в их подчинении, о нюансах своего продукта, его производства, продаж, маркетинга, найма и воспитания кадров и прочего - это миф, и признак плохого руководителя. В книге делается большой упор на помощь высших директоров своим подчиненным в их непосредственной деятельности советами, давать которые, без глубокого погружения, бессмысленно, на мой взгляд. Но будем разбираться дальше, время покажет.

This was a fine read but is mostly meant to target either fledgling leaders just entering a corporate executive position or one who is currently serving in such a capacity.

It has quite a lot of insightful information regarding management of large sets of people, resources, and funds in an efficient and realistic way. The information is, however, really only applicable if you are in a management position at a fairly high level in the organization.

Has a lot of great anecdotes about executive vice president A challenging mid-level leaders B and C to achieve margin initiative 1 by timeline 1998 through upgrades to technology, implementation of operations efficiencies, and negotiation with suppliers X and Y to avoid competitor D gaining market share. If that inspires you then you’ll probably enjoy the book much more than I did; if not then congratulations, settle for reading the back cover and save 8 hours.

"Исполнение. Система достижения целей" очень хорошая, основательная и тщательно проработанная книга в которой приведено множество принципов, моделей и способов управления персоналом с целью незамедлительной, а главное качественной реализации бизнес-панов а также целей предприятий.

Авторы не просто люди оторванные от действительности теоретики, а люди которые достигли высоких позиций в корпоративном секторе и весьма успешные личности. И возможно поэтому книга у них получилась очень насыщенная и ценная, а её рецепты готовы для применения во многих видах бизнеса.

Основная ценность книги в том, что авторами изучены проблемы провалов хороших стратегий компаний с идеальными бизнес-планами даже в руках сильных лидеров вместе с отличными командами управленцев. Да, и такое бывает! Боссиди и Чаран глубоко исследовали проблемы почему такое происходит в мире бизнеса. Они нашли множество причин этих проблем, и конечно же ими приведено большое количество советов и инструкций к применению.

Книга получилась на вес золота!

It's not worth reading, in my opinion, because it's full of jargon and puffery. Who knows if the wall of corporate verbiage has any meaning or not? Apparently many are convinced it does. I am not.

As to the puffery, the book makes out plain prudence to be some great new discovery. This is not even marketing, but simply spin, as far as I can see. Because the authors are corporate leaders, this book is treated better than it deserves. It deserves to be treated as an marketing addition to the authors' resume, rather than as a serious addition to the literature on prudence.

Just avoid it.

Edit: Serious about dramatically increasing execution? Then I recommend "The 12 Week Year" instead.

I was quite disappointed by this book. Part I and II contain useful information but not things you don't know. Everything I read here was what I would call common sense. Things that I would expect that the public this book is written for would likely know already. It's good to be reminded about certain things, I find myself reading some books in my library over and over again as you can only focus on so many things at once, but this felt like a waste of time. All the things that were discussed were discussed very high level. If things were only so simple nobody would need this book. Part III then offered some more in depth examples, just a few however.
If you're new to the subject and you only read this book you will know what should be done, you will have a small clue about how it should be done but you will encounter lot's of problems trying to do it that this book will not help you with.
I'm pretty sure that the authors of this book are very knowledgeable about the subject and I'm sure that things didn't went as smooth as they make it appear in this book. It's unfortunate that they don't go into more detail about those obstacles you will for sure encounter.

"Execution is a systematic process of rigorously discussing hows and what's, questioning, tenaciously following through, and ensuring accountability."

It is a commonly held belief that ideas are cheap but executing on them diligently towards a north star is what differentiates the entrepreneur from the rest. In "Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done", Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan dive deep into the foundational pieces that come together to run a successful business - they help us give structure to the process of execution. In today's knowledge economy where information spreads virally on a global scale discounting any early mover advantages, being execution savvy is the holy grail that companies need.

In the pre-mobile and pre-internet world, the job of an executive stopped at setting the strategy and giving motivational speeches to their employees. Whereas today, an executive must understand from soups to nuts within their areas to ensure things land well when the rubber hits the road - why is this so important? Any lost time in the execution process can turn into a competitive advantage for the competitors. Quote from the book: "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. And the leader of the organization must be deeply engaged in it".

The process of execution itself is comprised of three areas: 1/ People, 2/ Strategy, and 3/ Operations.

Of all the 3 areas, the people part cannot be overstated. Hiring the right people and landing them in the right roles is critical. Companies that have a great strategy often fail because they have not reconfigured their organizations with the right folks. Organizations assume that a top performer in one area will be a top performer in a different area which may not be always true. Continually assessing the performance of individuals on their fit for tomorrow's job which the business might need is as important as reflecting and rewarding past contributions.

Once we have the right folks hired and aligned on the vision, we start discussing the hows of reaching the end state. This is the strategy process and is an equally important one. Organizations must consider various questions and inputs while building the multi-year strategy. Some examples include understanding the market, customers, and competitors, the organizations' strengths and capabilities, how much money the business can make, the headwinds facing the company, etc., In other words, it is an involved narrative interconnecting disparate parts of a system. Any good strategy should balance the short-term needs of the business with the long-term. Amazon is highly popular for its long-term focus. A favorite Bezos aphorism is “Your margin is my opportunity.”

The final piece of the execution process is operations. This is where reality comes into play and is probably the hardest phase. Seemingly benign things during planning can pose unanticipated challenges in practical operations. One of the hallmarks of operations is root cause analysis and putting mechanisms in place to get things done. We will likely get lucky during our operations stage but a good operations process will have checks and balances in place.

During operations, an executive can either micromanage vs. be plugged in - there is a subtle difference between the two. Micromanagement refers to being top-down and dictating every step of how the team operates. Being plugged in refers to being curious about the details and having an open dialogue with the team regarding the operations. Every team member wants their leadership to understand the project details and build empathy. We've seen situations where managers become completely hands-off thereby losing touch with reality - this is a recipe for surprises at the end.

In summary, the modern world is highly competitive and who wins the market ultimately boils down to the 3 pillars of execution: people, strategy, and operations. We can see them as a trifecta and strength in each pillar can reinforce the other two leading to multiplicative wins for the enterprise.

Can't wait to read this one again

It's been a number of years since I first read this book. After a second reading, I'm convinced that it's far more helpful than what I thought from my first read. Very insightful and practical framework from which to view work.

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan was recommended to by a woman I met on a bus, somewhere along our conversation she suggested I would find reading this book interesting and learn a few things about getting things done. Here are my thoughts:

The book outlines three processes a business leader should focus on to successfully execute a business strategy i.e. the people process, the strategy process, and the operations process. According to Larry and Ram, if the leader is able to synchronize these three processes properly, he/she might (I use might here because nothing is ever a given in the business world) improve the competitive advantage of the business or business unit.

I'm happy Larry and Ram begun with the people process since its people who have to implement strategy after all. However, having the right people according to Larry and Ram is not enough, you need to have people with the right capabilities and competencies to deliver for the business. The two further argue that the business leader needs to be deeply involved in what is happening with the people and business. They use this analogy to illustrate the need for deep involvement on the part of the leader, “how does a good coach get to know his players? By being with them on the field.” I guess the point here is that leadership is not about sitting upstairs writing emails on strategy and hoping everything falls into place. The leader has to see the process through, make follow-ups and know who will and will not meet targets.

Another eye-catching issue covered in this book relates to the importance of clarity from the leader. I’m part of a team that manages our performance management system and I’ve seen how unclear objectives (KPI’S) set at the top can misdirect the entire organization. It’s important for leaders to clearly explain what they expect from people and continuously coach them. Letting go of poor performers is welcome and the leader should never feel bad about it. That said, the performers should be rewarded greatly.

I’ve read a good number of business and management books and this one reemphasized most of what I already know. Nevertheless, it’s a great book to read if you want to move from talking (heaven knows we have too many talkers and few doers) to actually getting things done.

A should-read book on execution for knowledge workers, managers, executives, and entrepreneurs.