I have required all of my management team to read "Execution" book. This book tells you why many companies fail to execute its strategies and how you can implement a performance management system to execute your business model. The book also provides tools to execute better, faster and consistently. The leaders will also learn about required qualities needed to build a high performing organization.

Here is the book structure :
1. Why Execution Is Needed (The Gap nobody Knows, The execution Difference, The Building Blocks of Execution)
2. The building blocks of execution (The leader's seven essential behaviors, creating the framework for cultural change, the job no leader should delegate-having the right people in the right place)
3. The Three core processes of execution (The People Process: Making the Link with Strategy and Operations, he Strategy Process: Making the Link with People and Operations, The Operations Process: Making the Link with Strategy and People)

I am big fan for Ram Charan. You should also read What CEO wants you to know, Every Business is a growth business, What the customer wants you to know, Confronting reality and Game Changer. You should at least read What the CEO wants you to know and Execution.

Russell Sarder
Chairman and CEO
NetCom Information Technology
www.netcominfo.com
www.sarder.com

This book teaches that `Execution' is not just tactics - it is a discipline and a system. Former CEO of Allied Signal (now Honeywell) Larry Bossidy and top business consultant and author Ram Charan bring decades of experience to the subject of Execution. Together they stress that to be successful, execution must be built into a company's strategy, its goals, and its culture.

One of the pillars of the book is that Execution is a systematic way of exposing reality and acting on it. Bossidy and Charan state that most companies don't face reality well, and state that unless you translate big thoughts into concrete steps for action, they're pointless. Execution becomes the missing link between aspirations and results. To be successful, strategies must take into account the organization's ability to execute.

The book Execution states, "In an execution company's operating review, the leader will want to know if the goal is realistic. "Fine, but will the increase come from? What products will generate the growth? Who will buy them, and what pitch are we going to develop to those customers? What will the competitor's reaction be?" If a milestone hasn't been reached at the end of the first quarter, it's a yellow light: something's not going as planned, and something will need to be changed. "Are the right people in charge of getting it done? Is their accountability clear? Whose collaboration is required and how will they be motivated to collaborate? Will the reward system motivate them toward a common objective?" The leader does not just sign off on a plan. She wants an explanation, and she will drill down until the answers are clear. "What are the programs? Where is the money going to be saved? What's the timeline? How much is it going to cost us to achieve it? And who is responsible for it all?"

Optimism, motivation and realism are keys to success.

Bossidy & Charan's First Building Block of Execution: 1. Know your people and your business 2. Insist on realism 3. Set clear goals and priorities 4. Follow through 5. Reward the doers 6. Expand people's capabilities 7. Know yourself

"Execution" contends that leaders who execute focus on a very few clear priorities that everyone can grasp. Give people a small number of clear priorities to execute well. A leader who has "ten top priorities" doesn't know what he's talking about - he doesn't know himself what the most important things are. Have few, clearly realistic goals and priorities that will influence the performance of the department.

The book highlights the importance of simplicity, stating that Leaders who execute speak simply and directly. A key takeway in the book is to simplify things so that others can understand them, evaluate them, and act on them. The authors rigorously promote that Execution is a systematic process of rigorously discussing hows and whats, questioning, tenaciously following through, and ensuring accountability.

If a business leader were to select one book as a guide to success, this would be my choice. As a former AlliedSignal executive, I have seen these practices applied and reinforced; I have also seen the results that they deliver. The book defines Execution as "...a systematic process of rigorously discussing hows and whats, questioning, tenaciously following through, and ensuring accountability." This clearly, crisply defines what must be the major focus for each executive in today's challenging business climate.

The 7 Essential Behaviors for Leaders should be posted on the office wall of every executive. They are timeless and appropriate in any business serving any industry.

The 3 Core Processes collectively cover all business activities that directly impact the ability to deliver superior performance - People, Strategy, and Operations. The discipline of structured, interactive reviews that cover the breadth and depth of the issues is a critical element, and written notes and action items provide a tangible record of decisions and "next steps".

The 3 Principles of Execution capture the essence of the subject matter. I find the first principle especially insightful - "Execution is a discipline and integral to strategy".

I strongly recommend that every leader in business read (and reread) this book.

Inspiring book. I also loved 'Running with the Rhinos" most recently published and fantastic insight on leadershipRunning with the Rhinos: Courageous Leadership for a Complex World

This (audio) book has some good examples of bad execution that lead to recent high-profile corporate troubles, and then gives some suggestions on how to do things. A lot of it is common sense and discipline, though, but there are a few helpful items - especially if you didn't pay the new-item proce and got it used :)

Un libro muy ameno que muestra cómo una organización puede alinearse en post de un objetivo común, hacer las cosas bien, sin lugar a dudas, un libro que hay que leer

The title "execution" may make you think this book is about executing decisions after they have been made. This is not at all the case. This book describes everything you have to do to develop strategies that are likely to succeed. It describes three processes, the strategic process, the people process and the operational process. The book describes in the most detail the people process. If you do not have the right people in the right positions the strategic process and operational processes will fail. These three processes are interdependent. The interdependence and the processes are described very clearly. That enables you to test if you are operating the right way.
The book describes "operationalizing" culture. The book describes operationalizing culture, where culture is defined as the sum of its shared values, beliefs and norms of behaviour. It is a very good chapter with an example of the wrong culture and right culture. The book from Louis Gerstner "Who says elephants can't dance is very helpful as is "From Good To Great" by Jim Collins. culture is defined as the sum of its shared values, beliefs and norms of behaviour. It is a very good chapter with an example of the wrong culture and right culture. It is a major challenge to figure out what the culture should be. The book from Louis Gerstner "Who says elephants can't dance" is very helpful as is "From Good To Great" by Jim Collins on this point.
Dialogue is also described as an essential part of operationalising culture. It is a very important goal requiring a great deal of skill and effort you should not underestimate. The book "On dialogue" from David Bohm is worth reading as it explains very lucidly all the obstacles you have to be overcome.
The "execution" book presents an excellent framework of processes that include establishing the right culture, using, what are referred to as "robust" and "candid"dialogues

My former boss presented this book to me in Audio-book format. The Audio book is read by the authors themselves. Not only do the authors provide valuable insights, but they deliver the message very well.

This book explains Execution is a specific set of behaviors and techniques that companies need to master in order to have competitive advantage. It is targeted to CEO's and executive managers and a definite must-read for CEO's and their coaches and advisers. For the rest of us mortals, it makes an excellent read, especially the real world examples that they provided. I wish they had provided more such examples. It is about following through as a leader providing different thought processes on how to lead and more importantly, how to make sure you get the job done!

The main message is that in order to execute the strategies that they develop, companies have to integrate their people, strategy and processes. Without proper execution, even the best strategies fail. The hardware (strategy and structure) is inert without the software (beliefs and behaviors).

The point which hit a home run with me was: A job no Leader should delegate which is having the Right People in the Right Roles. This is so true and so common sense and yet it is most often delegated to other departments or heavily focused on certifications, quantity (number of years) vs quality of experience. An organization's human beings are by far its most reliable resource for generating excellent results year after year. Their judgments, experiences, and capabilities make the difference between success and failure. The quality of their people is the best competitive differentiator. While okay to use assessment scores and certifications to validate capabilities, an organization must also identify weaknesses for improvement, streamline training and create career milestones. Then measure progress toward attaining and exceeding corporate goals.

Recommended for anyone in a Leadership role, especially if you're managing people in your organization.

Execution is a must read for all Executives. So many in management have trouble making decisions for fear of the Old Boy Network politics. Larry Bossidy would have none of that, and changed out his Executive staff until he had one's who would EXECUTE!

This book does a great job of helping a leader see the importance of staying disciplined enough to stay in the game, particularly with his or her people. I recommend this book for all organizational leaders - regardless of the position on the ladder.

I have shared this book with dozens of co-workers and employees at work. This is an outstanding roadmap for those who want to achieve greater results at work.

Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan are clearly sharp guys. I do agree with some of the other reviewers in that, at times, this book can be dry - and even redundant. But it's also full of straight talk and examples of strategies used by prominent and not-so-prominent leaders. Overall, very interesting stuff that will make you think twice about your actions.

As the title suggests, the book focuses on execution. Bossidy states that there are oodles of books on strategy, but there are precious few on Execution - thus his reason for writing the book, along with the advisor to CEOs, Ram Charan. After all, the best strategy in the world isn't worth a dime unless it is actually put in place.

The format of the book is simple and direct. First Bossidy defines execution. One definition he uses is great - the systematic way of exposing reality and acting on it. So many organizations come up with grand strategies that are based on unrealistic assumptions and/or they completely gloss over how the strategies are to be accomplished.

The book then discusses the three building blocks of execution to include Seven Essential Leadership Behaviors, Creating a framework for changing the culture of an organization, and having the right people in the right place.

The authors go on to describe the 3 essential processes required for execution: People, Strategy, and Operations. They describe how to set up each process in detail.

Several themes are echoed throughout the book to include...

* The need for robust dialogue, not only to get to the truth, but to be used as a teaching/learning tool.
* The intimate involvement of the executive in all facets of execution, to include follow up.
* The importance of linking the people, strategy, and operations processes together.

One of the flaws of the book, which is similar with many others that seek real world examples, is that no sooner does the book go to print than one of the exalted companies tanks.

With that said, there is a lot to be learned from this one. Bossidy is a pupil of Jack Welch, and that no-nonsense style is apparent. Many of the themes are the same, but some are indeed different or enhanced.

If your company is struggling, this book can help point you in the right direction. There is no miracle cure. You will need to take the medicine, but you will be better off for doing so.

-- Nick McCormick, Author, Lead Well and Prosper: 15 Successful Strategies for Becoming a Good Manager

The premise of the book is this: "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 authors define execution as understanding how to link together people, strategy, and operations. A significant portion of this book deals with managing people, including recognizing and developing future leaders.

Larry Bossidy's experience with Honeywell and General Electric is complemented by Ram Charan's insights from consulting to other large firms. I think the concepts can be useful to smaller businesses as well. Below are some lines from the book, which give an idea of their management style:

"Realism is the heart of execution, but many organizations are full of people who are trying to avoid or shade reality."

"An astonishing number of strategies fail because leaders don't make a realistic assessment of whether the organization can execute the plan."

"You need robust dialogue to surface the realties of the business."

"Only authenticity builds trust, because sooner of later people spot the fakers."

"Some leaders drain energy from people and others create it."

"You should strive for simplicity in general. One thing you'll notice about leaders who execute is that they speak simply and directly."

"A leader who says `I've got ten priorities' doesn't know what he's talking about."

The book is written from the perspective of managing a very large company. Larry Bossidy's experience with Honeywell and General Electric is complemented by Ram Charan's insights from consulting to other large firms. However, I think the concepts can be useful to smaller businesses as well.

The premise of the book is this: "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 authors define execution as understanding how to link together people, strategy, and operations. A significant portion of this book deals with managing people, including recognizing and developing future leaders.

Some noteworthy lines from the book:

"Realism is the heart of execution, but many organizations are full of people who are trying to avoid or shade reality."

"An astonishing number of strategies fail because leaders don't make a realistic assessment of whether the organization can execute the plan."

"You need robust dialogue to surface the realties of the business."

"Only authenticity builds trust, because sooner of later people spot the fakers."

"Some leaders drain energy from people and others create it."

"You should strive for simplicity in general. One thing you'll notice about leaders who execute is that they speak simply and directly."

"A leader who says `I've got ten priorities' doesn't know what he's talking about."

Literally one of the best business books ever written. The style is tight and clean, and the advice practical and accomplishment oriented.

Execution is one of the popular business books of 2002. I sometimes refer to this kind of books as "airport books" since airports have stacks of them and thats where most business people seem to buy them.

Execution was recommended to me as a book that really gets to the root of many organizational dysfunction. After reading the book, I tend to disagree. Execution does make some good points, but it's surprisingly not very concrete for a title which suggests concreteness.

The book describes how moderns leaders "get things done" through the three processes in a company: the strategy process, the people process and the operations process. The authors argue that in many organizations "execution" is lacking because the three core processes are not performed well and are not well linked together. It gives examples of businesses where this was the case and counter examples of businesses which, according to them, execute well (like GM and Enron...)

To me, the book was way too much "leader focused" and not real enough. It had a lot of blah blah about good leaders should do this and that, while much of it was not really concrete. I do not think I got any idea from this book which I would be able to execute.

The one thing about the book I DID like was it's focus on getting the right people and educating them correctly. The book, again and again, states that having the right people is essential in well run companies. Though, after that, the amount of stuff about rewarding was, in my opinion, not very good.

My conclusion is that the book is ok to read. I think I would not recommend it to anyone, but it wasn't a complete waste of time. I did expected a lot more. So, better leave it at the airport and pick up another airport book.

This book is worthwhile for Fortune 500 CEO types, but is less applicable to the average person trying to get the most of his or her day. When I picked up this book I was hoping that it addressed the everyday execution that small companies/law firms, etc struggle with in today's business world. But that is not the case. This book is from CEO types for CEO types with little useful information regarding the individual's struggle to get anything done in his or her hectic life. If that's what you're looking for, this is not the book for you. The book is not bad, it is just that few of us help operate large multinational public corporations in which much of the strategies suggested in this book relate to.

Got this book from the library, and after reviewing Ram's comments about J&J it was clear to me he did not know what he was talking about. Being Employed in the medical industy for 18 years I am well aware of this story. First he states that J&J developed the stent technology. They didn't develop squat, it was developed by Cordis, who was acquired in a hostile take over. I have also had the opportunity of meeting a retired engineer who worked a Cordis during the time of the takeover. According to my engineer friend they striped Cordis of all projects and replaced them with their own completely disrupting the product pipe line.

Last of all they did a wonderful Job of irritating every a great number of Doctors. Since the were the only ones with a stent at the time they saw no need to reduced the price of the stent no matter the size of the customer. The one doctor I talked to said even if someone could provide an equal stent at the same price they would buy it rather then J&J. No wonder they lost over 90% market share in less then a month.

In summary I find this as a case a shear stupidity and arrogance on the part of J&J and have a hard time seeing any relationship to execution.
It also compromises the authors credibility.

Put me in coach. I found it difficult to read this book sitting down. The authors provide motivation for any business leader to take action and execute. I wish to thank Mr. Bossidy and Mr. Charan for their compelling insights, supported by relevant examples.

There is no fat in this book. When you consider the backround of the authors, and the valuable information a reader walks away with, this book is a must read for any person seeking to win in business or life.

I was triggered by the title. I my business life I have seen and written quite a substantial amount of businessplans. And we all know that many times a businessplan is soon forgotten, just a short while after its presentation. This book is solely dedicated to 'discipline of getting things done'. Simply put the discipline that sets the top performers apart from the rest. A must read for anyone involved in (business) planning. Practice it and you will be amazed by the results.

Promptly answered all pre-purchase emails. Prompt delivery after the sale. No hesitation in using again.

Everything went smoothly. I received what I ordered and it was delivered quickly. I would order from this user again!

After delivering all the stuff on execution/people management/expectations/planning etc., Bossidy delivered a time-frame for getting things done - 25 hours a week - outside of which you're just doing busy work as a CEO; this was of a great deal of value to me.

I feel bad for the reveiwer who unfortunately had to miss the first half of what sounds like a freakin' awesome vacation because they were waiting for this book to deliver deep insights. If you read their good review you will realize that those insights never really materialize.

In what seems to be a trend with modern management books there is an honest to goodness 40 pages or so worth of excellent material in here, and it is pretty basic fundamental type stuff, but it is padded with repetition and completely unhelpful examples till it is its more "publishable" length. Unfortunately I thought the padding in this book was particularly bad for a leadership book, being basically boast sessions that were so foggily written that you didn't really pick up much useful advice from them.

The biggest lesson in this book is that the key to executing is hiring and promoting people that have a proven track record of execution. Err . . . thanks. The rest is pretty motherhood type stuff, like operational planning needs to be tied to strategy and be realistic in terms of being based on the capabilities the company has.

Another caveat for anyone in the military as this book is currently being hawked in a lot of defense circles. It really is geared towards businesses producing products for the consumer world. As such only the people leadership and personnel development parts of this book are really relevant to military operations. It thus contains about 20 pages of real use for officers and NCO's. Getting to these 20 pages is a bit of a pain since the authors are not as direct or succinct as they should be.

While a little a dry at times, this book provides great detail on how companies differentiate themselves by not only telling, but doing! Execution and communication seem to be the two biggest impediments to a successful business and this book outlines how to best manage through the first. There are several specific examples of how good execution can literally make a company....with that, I do recommend this book to any biz owners interested in improving their chances of success!

I think that there's gold in this book. But it's awfully hard to listen long enough to find it. It's read by several people: the co-authors plus a professional? They cut in at various points and take up the monotone. Oops, monologue. Curiously, the co-authors are better than the professional?

There are 2 kinds of business books, from what I can tell. One type, like "Good to Great," takes data, and conducts research to spot keys to success. This book takes two successful people (better than one, I guess) and lets them tell why they think they were successful. No real testing outside of th authors. So let's call this a biography, with lessons that hopefully will apply to you.

When I brought this book, my attention was to focus on personal and business execution. There was no personal execution which obviously discouraged me from reading the whole book.

On the other hand it was great for organizational execution or for CEO's of large companies. I feel the advice was solid.

I thought there were many good take-aways in this book. Was it all original? Of course not. Most management books are saying the same things with a slightly different twist. I've got a bookshelf full of them. However, it seems that humans are so often incapable of remembering the fundamentals and have a tendency to overcomplicate things thus history repeats itself over and over.

The tone of the book regarding people gave me a little pause. Although I do think they were spot on in their assessment of how many companies do succession planning (not at all or incorrectly), it does seem to advocate that everyone needs to be a mini-Jack Welch type persona. I've worked in a company managed by ex-GE guys and believe me, they don't have it all figured out. I think organizations will benefit by having a mix of skills. Some people are better doers and others are better thinkers. Some superstars are good at both. It takes all types.

I did receive this book in an executive seminar; read it over couples of nights, a simple book with day to day tips to make things happen.

A must read for any one how dreams to become a successful executive and a reality check for those already there.

So many times in this marketing-focused world, we do very well at the talking but not very good at the walking. Many of us have seen amazing sales presentations . . . only to realize that the promises would never be met.

This book engages us in the discussion about how to do what we promise. It helps us to go beyond the sales presentation and really design a process by which we can follow through, build relationships and live a life that is full of integrity and trustworthiness.

This book did very little for me. Largely, the book is unoriginal and simply restates ideas already presented in tons of business leadership books. This book might as well have been written for the sole purpose of patting prominent CEOs, namely Jack Welch, on the back. You would be better served to bypass this one and just go read something by Welch on leadership.

I teach MBAs. Its well known in the field that MBAs are very competent in analysis but not so good in implementation. The reason for this is that most professors who teach business have never actually worked in business and are research analysts. They teach analysis because they are excellent in that area. I worked in business 10 years before becoming a professor. I teach my students about implementation and they are interested. This is a book about implementation at the CEO level. I'm thinking of using it as a supplementary executive MBA text.

Bossidy put together the most comprehensive top to bottom case for execution yet written. What so many books on business forget to emphasize is the people part of the equation. Bossidy balances not only having the right people but making sure the company is passionate about developing them and getting them in the right jobs where they can produce the best results for the company and themselves. Strategy is worthless without the right people that can execute to make the strategy happen. While Bossidy advocates strong messures for non preformers, he does so with delibert respect for individuals and reasonable compassion.
Rod Hagenbuch

After reading this book I realized that these authors were lamenting the same point found in the hundreds of other business books I've read over the years. That the so called "Management Talent" isn't really talent after all. It is just goals, plans, action, and perseverance. Since the vast majority of people, even in business, don't do this or at least not consistently makes those that do seem like exceptional managers.

I marginally liked this book. I agree with one reviewer that this is just a case study on project management.

I was looking forward to this book with a great deal of anticipation on "how." The trouble was, the underlying assumptions were that any reader has the carte-blanche power to hire and fire CEO's at-will. In the more common work-a-day world, I know of virtually no one with this kind of authority, so there was precious little I was able to take away from it. Overall, the theme of the text was more to instill a great deal of fear in those who are under you so THEY execute tasks, not the one who is in charge. I fail to see how this could apply to anyone but the precious few in the U.S. who have a 7-8 figure salary. I am also very puzzled at the positive reviews I have seen so far.

Book recommended by my manager. Great recommendation!
All stories and advices make sense either your are CEO and simply manager.
Very interesting reading even if you don't struggle to get things done..I'm sure you ain't :)

Execution is interesting in the context of numerous case studies that the authors have covered, but lacks a real, predictive model. There is some solid advice in the book, and a few lessons to be learned from the discussed examples, but many of the recommendations are either tautological, or simply motherhood and pie. At times, the authors contradict their own recommendations in the case studies and propose circular definitions that lead nowhere fast. This is not to say that this is a poor book, it's well written and offers some great insights - I just wouldn't place it at the top of my reading list.

This book is very straight forward. It has helped me
with my management skills in my own businesses. Being a
entrepreneur is hard if you don't have the skills inside
this book. This is great for any management team or for
and entrepreneur that is building a office.

Oh, if you don't have time to read
grab the audio version for the car.

Matt Bacak
Author of The Ultimate Lead Generation Plan
and Secrets of the Internet Millionaire Mind

Larry and Ram talk about their experiences with managing big companies. However, their advice is not only useful to CEOs but generally makes sense for everybody: Be honest about your goals, ambitions, and resources and follow up with your people. A disciplined way of working is both efficient and effective. Stress is minimized and success is assured. Too bad that most people do not follow these simple rules and therefore spread a lot of grief, turmoil, and stress.

This provides a excellent tips on getting the things from your team. It discusses about communicating what you want your team to do, measure their results along the way, mentor if required or let them go if they are not delivering the results.

I will suggest this book to anyone who is responsible for getting the work done.

Only good thing I will say about this book is that at a 50,000 ft level, the concept is good - organizations have to create a culture that ensures accountability and hold people to this.

While this is good, everything else about the book is terrible. The authors write this book in too much of a storybook fashion and keep repeating the same concept over and over which gets annoying. On top of that, the so-called vanguard CEOs and companies that they keep referencing over and over again are those who have been shown to be underperformers in the long-run (look at the recent track record of these companies) - Bob Nardelli from Home Depot, Dell Computer, Wal Mart, EDS, in fact look at Bossidy's own performance at Honeywell. Clearly, both these guys' so-called brilliant advice is flawed, old-school, and full of holes if their role-models cannot sustain performance in the long-haul. They are both too Jack Welch-ish - and those who have been in industry long enough know that much of Jack Welch's methods are very short-sighted (look at Six Sigma, and how the majority of companies that have implemented this keep trailing the S&P 500 or better yet, read Fortune Magazine's article from last year which debunks nearly all of Jack's management techniques).

For those who really want a good management book, I recommend Jim Collins' Good to Great.

Don't waste your time and money reading Ram and Larry's hot air.

This product was a great purchase. Frankly, I think that this book was one of the best written business books in a long time and I'm thankful that Amazon made it readily accessible for me. Thanks!

The key point in the whole book is the first word of the title - EXECUTION. There is without question in business in this country, and to a far greater extent overseas, a failure to execute. Businesses, like people have wonderful thoughts, ideas, notions, desires, goals, objectives, and needs. Try finding the company, entity, institution that bottom line, successfully gets things done. It comes back to EXECUTION.


The authors are as professional as you can get. Larry Bossidy is a product of the General Electric system of management. He is the man credited with building the division now known as GE Capital into what it is today. GE Capital is one of the most profitable divisions of any corporation in the world, and the envy of every financial institution including Wall Street.


Bossidy was one of three men in the running to become Chairman of General Electric. He lost to Jack Welch. It is traditional that when you are passed over as Chairman of GE, you take your time, but you leave. Bossidy left to run Allied Signal, which then was absorbed into Honeywell. It was during that corporate transformation that Bossidy became associated with the techniques that you are reading in his book, "Execution-The Discipline of Getting Things Done".


His co-author is Ram Charan, who has taught at both Harvard Business, and the Kellogg School of Northwestern University. Charan has functioned as an international business consultant specializing in management. Without being mentioned, it is obvious that at some point Charan consulted for Bossidy somewhere along the way, and this is how the partnership was formed.


Why You Must Read this Book?


You read every word in a book like "Execution", because you are getting it from the horse's mouth. Even if other people can say it better, Bossidy is the guy who made the big bucks doing it. Who wouldn't want to read a book on playing golf under pressure by Tiger Woods, or how you should prepare for a big basketball game the day of the game by Michael Jordan.


Bossidy is the real deal. He has run a major corporation, and posted major results, for a long period of time. All the major players are in agreement; that this is the man you go to when you want to talk about management. Now having said that, does the book ramble, yes, could it be shorter, yes, could it better written, the answer is of course. It still doesn't make any difference. You have to read Bossidy, because even Jack Welch at GE read this book.


Here's what you will learn very quickly


1) Execution isn't everything - it's the ONLY THING

You'll remember that Vince Lombardi, the Green Bay Packer's coach use to say that winning isn't everything; it's the only thing. The same thing can be said about EXECUTION. The only purpose bottom line for a business to be in business is to execute the goals, and objectives of the corporation.


2) The difference between Dreams, and Results is how you EXECUTED

Businesses started with goals and objectives, and then you have to get to reality. Everything in between is how you execute, and the authors make clear at every opportunity those instances where corporations did well (General Electric, Dell, EDS), and those times when corporations failed (Xerox, Lucent, Kodak, Motorola, AT&T). The examples given are thorough, and make sense. You know all these corporations.


3) The importance of the talent you field

Bossidy is so right on this one. He says that he spent 40% of his time picking the players. In the end, how much can a CEO personally do, or deliver? It's true that a CEO can fairly easily blow up a corporate structure in a year or two. The two authors say the same CEO picking the right talent can deliver enviable results. They must be held to high accountable standards. You use the feedback to power the results.


4) Constant involvement with that talent

Bossidy is not a guy that leaves things to human resources. Bossidy talks about the importance of the lunch or dinner with his management team members, how he was constantly sizing them up. Could they deliver, would they execute. He is the only CEO I have ever heard of who personally would check referrals on those he hired. That kernel of information tells you everything. One could almost argue that if you put the right players into place, your job is 90% done, providing the system works.


I would like to take a moment to tell you how you work with a book like this. You need to write in the margins, you must underline, and you must question, and annotate the entire book. If you are someone that finds himself commuting either to work, or spending significant time in a car, than the audio version is excellent as well because it is in the author's voices.


Recognize that this is a book you will read, or listen to many times. There are multiple layers of messages here, and you will not capture them all with the first run through of either the book, or the audio. Bossidy is acknowledged to be one of the most successful businessmen of his era, take advantage of it, and pull everything you can out of his book.
Good luck.


Richard Stoyeck

I have become a fan of well-written business books. The information in these books is organized in a way that the information becomes knowledge. The title of this book was auspicious: "Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done." What business person at any level of responsibility would fail to be intrigued and enthused about a book with such a great title? The problem is that the book fails to fully execute on its premise.

This book is filled with lots of great information. However, this book is also filled with a lot of stories. The stories also have lots of information, but by the time you reach the end of each section it is easy to lose sight of the original purpose of the section. The end result is that the book seems to struggle to get to the point. The bizarre thing is that the book does get to the point, but the stories intrude and distract from the points so that you think the book never got there. The essential problem is that the reader has to work too hard to mentally organize the authors' information into knowledge.

This book could become a great book if it was reorganized. If the stories were removed from the body of each chapter and placed in a section titled "Case Studies," "Observations," or something similar (stories we included to bulk this book up to a saleable length also comes to mind in some cases), then the sections could be read to understand the points followed by readings of the examples. Then we could divine the authors' points before reading stories that enhance the examples.

My conclusion is that the authors' failed to have the discipline to write a readily readable book, which means they had the discipline to get the book done, but not to get the book done right. We know as business people that poor execution is sometimes worse then no execution at all, and such is the case here. If you are seeking a book with great wisdom regarding techniques for execution, this book is not it. If you are looking for lots of stories about how people failed to execute, sometimes executed, and sometimes recovered from failed execution, and you are willing to read lots of distracting stuff in between, then maybe you have the patience to glean the knowledge that exists in a disorganized fashion in this book.

Good Luck!

Good insight into what makes a business work

Have a lot of respect for both Larry Bossidy and Ramcharan, and know of their achieements. The importance of Execution is the exact other half component of a business (the first half is to bring the vision/idea). Without Execution, vision or idea has no value and Execution can only follow a vision or idea.
Book has some good tips, and good to use lessons, and some examples as well; it is not that I did not get enough value out of this book, but unable to figure out why the book has so many pages for delivering the base concept alone. I wish the book had more specific guideliens, tool tips to improvise on some one why may lack focus on execution.

This books builds on the fame of the authors, but tells nothing more than a series of banal truths. For the one looking for execution techniques, this book will not give any new insight. On the other side, a manager that will miss one of the "pillars" here presented, i.e. the people process, the strategy and the operation, or to establish the link between them, will inevitably fail in the longer term. The book is easy to read, and might be useful for beginners to avoid banal mistakes.

This book is a succinct summary of all that is wrong in many companies. Larry and Ram analyze many of the most dysfunctional behaviors seen in large corporations and lay out some steps to address them. While many of their stories focus on senior management and execution failures, their suggestions and guidelines work just as well for all levels of management. If you are responsible for planning and getting things done, this book will give you some tips and ideas as well as codifying your "gut feel" for why some people just don't get things done.
My only complaint was that it did not address the problems of getting your information systems to "get things done". As businesses are increasingly embodied in their information systems I think this is going to become more and more important.

Execution, The Discipline of Getting Things Done, will help you think and manage like a winner! The book is exactly what one would expect from a former GD Exec (Bossidy) an advisor to Blue Chip CEO's (Ram). The essence of the book is to show how to link three of the most important parts of an organization, People, Strategy and Operations, to create a competitive, agile, team that produces results. The book ties in many themes that were in Jack Welch's Winning. The lessons are taught in the context of a manufacturing business, which doesn't really relate to my field but it was very easy to draw the parallels.

I have to admit that when I started reading the book I almost put it back on the shelf because it didn't quite engage me. My one complaint is that some of the chapters seemed long making the material difficult to absorb at times. Overall, I am glad I kept reading because I got some great insight into the ways of successful companies and leaders.