The book offers good perspectives on the topic of execution. However what Bossidy and Charan are really doing is that they are talking about the importance of decision making. It is the small daily decisions along with the occasional large ones that together constitute execution. While execution is a good management jargon there needs to be more emphasis on the ways decisions are made in organisations.

The premise of the book is incredibly strong. It came as a surprise at first to consider that the missing link in the chain of growth for many companies is the ability to execute. Anyone in any type of leadership or management role should read this book. It outlines the exact practices and principles using real life examples of companies we can relate to.

This is a solid book, but it's a bit short on details, which is odd for an "execution"-focused book. I don't dispute the authors' contention that execution is an overlooked skill, but I think there's a reason companies have COOs and CEOs or that there are chiefs of staff to many senior executives. I'm not sure the two skills are always found in the same person.

I might have missed the point of this book, but what I came away with was:
- This is a book based in a different time and while execution is as fundamental to business success the "incarnation" in this book and its implementation is obsolete.
- It's hard to take it too seriously when statements that are key to the message of the book are based upon bad data.
- Most of what's usable in this book is just "re-branded" common sense. While they are good reminders they do not inspire nor impress.
- Stop trying to dazzle me with large figures. I simply do not care.

Started off very strong and somehow became less impressive towards the end. For some reason, it felt less precise, even though it was describing the operations and strategy processes. Nonetheless, I wholeheartedly support its core premise that you have be specific about how to get things done.

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.

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 gave this 3 stars not because it was a bad book, but rather because I think other books better convey a similar but more concise message. Those books would be The Oz Principle and The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals .

The idea that many people intellectualize, philosophize and cannot actually implement or execute is so very true, I have seen it over and over again in my career.

Leaders show up and get into the weeds, it builds dignity in subordinates. Forty percent of a leader's time should be spent on selecting, evaluating, and providing feedback to their people.

I've heard something similar to this many times, but I loved the way the authors worded this - "We don't think our way into a new way of acting, we act our way into a new way of thinking".

I totally agree with the thoughts on senior leadership teams. Robust, open, honest dialog is key to execution, be open minded without private agendas. Internally competitive behavior is destructive and people who cannot work with other drain an organizations capacity.

Overall I enjoyed the book, it just didn't offer much new content for me personally, I would not hesitate to recommend it as a good book on Leadership and Execution.

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.

I had very high expectations when starting this book due to the praise it has received from multiple angles, even the Goodreads book description is written in superlative. It's definitely a good book but I have to say that I was not impressed, mainly due to two reasons:
1) Most of the recommendations were familiar from somewhere else there was little completely new material that I had not encountered before.
2) I did not like that most of the examples were impersonal (company A, project Y, person X) which made them hear artificial.
I did enjoy the part of evaluating the performance of leaders and how it may be deceived (i.e. meeting targets at the cost of people (expecting people to work overtime as a norm) or timing financial/production decisions to maximize reported numbers in a way that compromises future earnings). Also the discussions around organizational culture were sound. "Leaders need to commit as much as 40% of their time and energy (emotional) to selecting, appraising, and developing people." (principle that was endorsed by GE CEO Jack Welch).

For key concepts I'm going to borrow the book review from user "Al" (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
1.tExecution is a systematic process of rigorously discussing hows and whats, questioning, tenaciously following through, and ensuring accountability.
2.tNo company can deliver on its commitments or adapt well to change unless all leaders practice the discipline of execution at all levels.
3.tYou need robust dialogue to surface the realities of the business.
4.tHow people talk to each other absolutely determines how well the organization will function.
5.tOrganizations don’t execute unless the right people, individually and collectively, focus on the right details at the right time.
6.tPeople imitate their leaders.
7.tLeadership without execution is incomplete and ineffective.
8.tLeader must show up. You cannot be detached and removed and absent.
9.tGood people liked to be quizzed – when you probe, you can learn things and your people learn things. Everyone gains from the dialogue.
10.tRealism is at the heart of execution; don’t try to avoid or shade reality.
11.tRewards and respect are based upon performance.
12.tCoaching is the single most important part of expanding others’ capabilities.
13.tWhen leader discusses business and organizational issues in a group setting, everybody learns.
14.tBest learning comes from working on real business problems; ask people to work on 3 or 4 issues facing company – form teams to work on those issues.
15.tEvery leader and supervisor needs to be a teacher.
16.tLeader must have emotional fortitude to be able to be honest with yourself; deal honestly with business and organizational realities; or give people forth right assessments.
17.tEmotional fortitude comes from self discovery and self mastery. It is the foundation of people skills.
18.tPutting people in the right jobs requires emotional fortitude.
19.tFour qualities that make up emotional fortitude include authenticity, self-awareness, self-mastery, and humility.
20.tWe don’t think ourselves into a new way of acting; we act ourselves into a new way of thinking.
21.tA business’s culture defines what gets appreciated and respected and ultimately, rewarded. It tells people what in the organization is valued and recognized.
22.tYou cannot have an execution culture without robust dialogue; one that brings reality to the surface through openness, candor, and informality.
23.tGood motto: truth over harmony. Harmony can be the enemy of truth.
24.tFormality suppresses dialogue; informality encourages it. It invites questions, encourages spontaneity and critical thinking.
25.tThe culture of a company is the behavior of its leaders. Leaders get the behavior they exhibit and tolerate.
26.tThe more you get involved and the better you hash the issues out on the table, the better decisions you will make in terms of their resolution.
27.tIn successful businesses, leaders focus intensely and relentlessly on people selection.
28.tLeaders must be personally committed to the people process and deeply engaged in it.
29.tWhen the right people are not in the right jobs, the problem is visible and transparent.
30.tLeaders need to commit as much as 40% of their time and energy (emotional) to selecting, appraising, and developing people.
31.tDoers energize people; they are decisive on tough issues, get things done through others and follow through as second nature.
32.tGetting things done through others: fundamental leadership skill: if you cannot do it, you are not leading.
33.tWhen the wrong people get rewarded, the whole organization loses.
34.tMechanical evaluations miss how candidates performed in meeting their commitments. Meeting them the wrong way can do enormous damage to an organization.
35.tNowhere is candid dialogue more important than in the people process. Must be able to speak forthrightly in evaluating others, if not, evaluation is worthless.
36.tThe people process is more important than either the strategy or operations processes.
37.tRobust people process: evaluates individuals accurately and in depth; provides framework for identifying/developing leadership talent; and fills the leadership pipeline.
38.tTraditional people process; backward looking, focused on evaluating the jobs people are doing today. More important to determine if individuals can handle the jobs of tomorrow.
39.tMeeting strategic milestones greatly depends on having a pipeline of promising and promotable leaders. Strong leadership pipeline based on good information.
40.tHR person must be well trained in the craft: how to teach people, develop them, make them interested in staying with company, and know what’s important for building momentum and morale in an organization.

Application:

1.tA leader just does not sign off on a plan. She wants an explanation and she should drill down until the answers are clear.
2.tThe know-how of execution: involve all people responsible for the strategic plan’s outcome; ask staff about the hows of execution; set milestones for the progress of the plan with strict accountability for the people in charge; and have contingency plans to deal with unexpected.
3.tSeven essential behaviors of leaders: know your people and your business; insist on realism; set clear goals and priorities; follow through; reward the doers; expand people’s capabilities; and know yourself.
4.tWork on the personal connection everyday and every way you can. Show up with an open mind and a positive demeanor, be informal and have sense of humor.
5.tFocus on a very few clear priorities that everyone can grasp. Strive for simplicity in general. Speak simply and directly.
6.tAsk people to work on 3 or 4 issues facing company: form teams to work on these issues.
7.tNeed to make judgments about which people have the potential to get something useful out of a course and what specific things you are trying to use education to accomplish.
8.tGain experience in self-assessment.
9.tCultural change must change people’s behavior. Must change the beliefs and behavior of people in ways that are directly linked to bottom – line results.
10.tDo not reward individuals for just strong achievement on numbers but also on the desirable behaviors that people actually adopt.
11.tIncrease population of A-players: those who are tops in both behavior and performance.
12.tSearch for people with an enormous drive for winning.
13.tNever finish a meeting without clarifying what the follow-through will be; who will do it; when and how they will do it; what resources they will use; and how and when the next review will take place and with whom.
14.tPersonally check references. Focus on candidate’s energy, implementation, and accomplishments. Find out about their past/present, accomplishments, how they think, and what drives their ambitions.
15.tLook closely at how the people under review met their commitments.
16.tWhen identifying high-potential and promotable people, avoid two dangers: organizational inertia (keeping people in the same jobs for too long); and moving people up too quickly.

There were a few takeaways however it took a while to get to them. Here's what I learned:
First you must clearly Define the results you need. Next you must show them how to get the results you need. Then you must reward when results are achieved or coach when they are not and remove Rewards.
Clearly Define on what criteria is that will make the person effective in their job. This is the key to leadership.
Attack your business constantly as if you were your competition trying to overtake you. This will expose your weaknesses and where you need to improve.

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