 | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | Disciplines like strategy, leadership development, and innovation are the sexier aspects of being at the helm of a successful business; actually getting things done never seems quite as glamorous. But as Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan demonstrate in Execution, the ultimate difference between a company and its competitor is, in fact, the ability to execute. Execution is "the missing link between aspirations and results," and as such, making it happen is the business leader's most important job. While failure in today's business environment is often attributed to other causes, Bossidy and Charan argue that the biggest obstacle to success is the absence of execution. They point out that without execution, breakthrough thinking on managing change breaks down, and they emphasize the fact that execution is a discipline to learn, not merely the tactical side of business. Supporting this with stories of the "execution difference" being won (EDS) and lost (Xerox and Lucent), the authors describe the building blocks--leaders with the right behaviors, a culture that rewards execution, and a reliable system for having the right people in the right jobs--that need to be in place to manage the three core business processes of people, strategy, and operations. Both Bossidy, CEO of Honeywell International, Inc., and Charan, advisor to corporate executives and author of such books as What the CEO Wants You to Know and Boards That Work, present experience-tested insight into how the smooth linking of these three processes can differentiate one company from the rest. Developing the discipline of execution isn't made out to be simple, nor is this book a quick, easy read. Bossidy and Charan do, however, offer good advice on a neglected topic, making Execution a smart business leader's guide to enacting success rather than permitting demise. --S. Ketchum |
Average Customer Rating:    Not much here A few years ago, the reading club at my company proposed this book. Immediately I yelled "Boring!" When asked why, I said, "Execution is what we do every day. I question that this will stretch us." Now I finally have read the book, and stand by my initial comment.
There is some value here, to be clear. Some interesting anecdotes. Some fascinating preening by Bossidy, who clearly sees himself, Jack Welch, and one or two others as smarter than anyone else in the corporate world. And some healthy focus on the how of moving from strategy to action, and on the importance of developing leaders.
But the book's fundamental premise, that companies fail (unless run by him, Jack or a few friends) because they don't execute, only stands because the authors subordinate strategy to execution. In other words, execution means strategy, plus moving from strategy to action. Well, I guess. I just don't see much value in that definition.
Let's keep the issues separate. Strategy matters. If you agree with that, then read Jim Collins and a host of others to figure out what matters most. How strategy is built matters. If you agree with that, this book has some useful ideas, but nothing I haven't seen in several companies. And moving strategy into action to achieve results matter. Again, this book has useful ideas, but nothing that rocks my world.
Bottom line, the book over reaches. Worth a quick scan. Definitely some good ideas. But it reads like a vanity piece. I found no intellectual rigor here, no "ah ha!" insights, no frameworks I could add to my management toolkit.
Net, as I suspected years ago: Boring! Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done This is a superb book. It's well written and one of the best you can read. My two cents An excellent book explaining the secrets to running a successful company in the simplest of ways. The must read for every CEO and any managing working type development
As an operation manager myself, I was asked to read this book by my CEO and is one of the thing I thank him the most, as this book taught me how to apply every piece of knowledge I had into results.
Is a very comprehensive reading framed as a discipline followed step by step and with results far known.
It is maybe the resume Jack Welch type of work.
Thenks Larry and Ram for making planning come into proven results.
Alternate title: Isn't Jack Welch wonderful? Some interesting case studies and generally useful advice. One star off for all the slobbering worship of Jack Welch. I and many of my colleagues saw the other side of him. He was like a neutron bomb -- wherever he went, the people were gone, but the buildings remained. Inside the company, he was known as "Neutron Jack." Thanks, but I won't think of Welch as any kind of role model to emulate.
Second point off for politocorrectoid smarm -- wherever possible, unidentified people are referred to as "she." This is annoying and distracting.
The execution of the book is just mediocre for these reasons. John C. Maxwell's books cover the same material and are much better, IMHO.
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