I loved this book. It was simply fantastic and laid out a number of important points in regards to follow through. I have recommended this book to a number of clients I have worked with.

This is one of the better leadership/management books that I have come across. Like most books of the genre, it stresses goals and visions as essential to moving forward, but this book takes it in a different direction: at some point, you need to stop dreaming and start doing something.

Execution stresses a more hands-on approach to leadership. It's not enough to simply sit back and be the idea guy hoping that someone else is taking care of the work. The book is generally written for the CEO level, but the majority of the lessons are transferable to any level of leadership/management.

My friend Darren pointed out that I had had a book on my list about getting things done for months. Well, I guess I did not get this one done. It remains on my table at work. Hopefully, I'll get back to it soon. In the meantime, I'm giving it only 1 star. If it was better, I probably would pick it back up to read.

This is a must read for anyone working in a corporate office, small business, or hot dog stand. In the 5 or 6 years since reading, time and time again I have thought about the things I learned here.

I was expecting this to be about executing in your personal life, not so much for work. This book is ideal for someone working in upper management. The title had me thinking it would focus on the discipline aspect of getting things done but it’s more so a checklist of how upper management can meet their targets.

this is a good book for all management people.

One of my mentor suggested that I read this book and I thank my stars for getting to read this book just at the right time. It covers everything from planning, execution, what can go wrong and how to be alert in execution. A good book to read for everyone who aspire to grow in management line though it specifically talks about leaders and CEO. The same concept can be applied at all levels of management.

Excellent book.

After reading this book in one sitting, I am not entirely certain what it brings to the table that an experienced leader would not already know.

The basic premise of the book is that success in business comes down to how people, plans, and operations work together and execution is based on those core processes. In other words, leaders need to know their people, what their people need to do, and how their people do it.

Though there were some helpful parts of the book, it varies from third person, second person, and first person. There were several times throughout the book where it seemed entire chapters repeat itself, let alone stories (I go to a plant, I meet with the leaders, I talk with the people, and I meet with the leaders again) or concepts like candid conversations. Compared to many other leadership books, it had no statistics beyond anecdotal or personal-experience stories.

This book did not read like it was written from someone who's making assumptions on leadership. There's no doubt it came from a place of experience. However, it was a surface-level treatment of leadership basics that left me frustrated for having spent the time reading the entire book.

Basic business book with all the key words, but also with solid examples... so it evened out, without impressing me. Fundamental idea is that goals without plans are just wishful thinking.

A quality discussion on execution - getting things done. This book interested me as it's a core part of my agency's grade at the end of every fiscal year. Additionally, I am responsible for tracking numerous KPIs thus execution is critical to make our numbers and achieve the desired end state. Towards the back third of the book, the authors had a hilarious, disturbing, but oh so true description of how typical high level strategy sessions are conducted. Having seen this far too many times, it hit close to home. Next time I participate in one of these, I need to re-read this section. Unfortunately, this book did lose my attention at times but it did have some great quotes as listed below.

- The 3 core processes of execution: people, strategy, and operations... the building blocks and heart of good execution.
- Given the many things that businesses can't control, from the uncertain state of the economy to the unpredictable actions of competitors, you'd think companies would pay careful attention to the one thing they can control - the quality of their people, especially those in the leadership pool. PJK: Very interesting statement. Luckily my current boss has keyed in on this over the past year thus I have some experience seeing how to do this well.
- Yet the same leaders who exclaim that "people are our most important asset" usually do not think very hard about choosing the right people for the right jobs. PJK: So true... While I've made two great hires in the past 12 months, I need to rethink how I lead a hiring action.
- Interviewers don't usually dig into the person's record to see how she actually performed in her previous jobs. How, for example, did she set priorities? Did she include people in decision making?
- The first thing I look for are energy and enthusiasm for execution. Does the candidate get excited by doing things, as opposed to talking about them?
- Does she talk about the thrill of getting things done, or does she keep wandering back to strategy or philosophy.
- One of the biggest shortcomings of the traditional people process is that it's backward-looking, focused on evaluating the jobs people are doing today. Far more important is whether the individuals can handle the jobs of tomorrow.
- The first building block of the people process is its linkage to strategic milestones over the near (0-2 years), medium (2-5 years), and long terms, as well as the operating plan targets. The business leaders create this linkage by making sure they have the right kinds and numbers of people to execute the strategy.
- Most companies underestimate their competitors' responses.... Sometimes people have the opposite problem - they overestimate the competition because they haven't asked the right questions.

I agree with the title, "the Discipline of Getting Things Done", because even though the concepts were explained with surprisingly less jargon than I anticipated, it was still a challenging read for me to initially complete. However, because the various concepts were so clearly explained , I think it'll be a great career reference text for me.