Execution

The Discipline of Getting Things Done

By: Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan

Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd

The audio that shows how to get the job done and deliver results...whether you're running an entire company or in your first management job.

Larry Bossidy is one of the world's most acclaimed CEOs, with a track record for delivering results. Ram Charan is a legendary adviser to senior executives and boards of directors, a man with unparalleled insight into why some companies are successful and others are not. Together they've pooled their knowledge and experience into one guide on how to close the gap between results promised and results delivered.

The discipline of execution means understanding how to link together people, strategy, and operations, the three core processes of every business. Leading these processes is the real job of running a business, not formulating a "vision" and leaving the work of carrying it out to others. Bossidy and Charan show the importance of being deeply and passionately engaged in an organization and why robust dialogues about people, strategy, and operations result in a business based on intellectual honesty and realism.

The leader's most important job - selecting and appraising people - is one that should never be delegated. As a CEO, Larry Bossidy personally makes the calls to check references for key hires. Why? With the right people in the right jobs, there's a leadership gene pool that conceives and selects strategies that can be executed. People then work together to create a strategy building block by building block, a strategy in sync with the realities of the marketplace, the economy, and the competition. Once the right people and strategy are in place, they are then linked to an operating process that results in the implementation of specific programs and actions and that assigns accountability. This kind of effective operating process goes way beyond the typical budget exercise that looks into a rearview mirror to set its goals. It puts reality behind the numbers and is where the rubber meets the road.

©2002 Crown Business
(P)2002 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A terrific book that will make smart managers rethink how business gets done within every level of their organization or department." (Publishers Weekly)
"A great practitioner and an insightful theorist join forces to write a compelling business story of 'how to get it done.'" (Jack Welch)

Effective people management

Sharp, incisive, cruel but honest - this is Bossidy's receipt for effective people managemant and execution of a strategy.
You feel exposed, naked in front of his truth-based techniques. He is like a conqueror: able to draw a daring strategy, capable to motivate people to follow him and precise in executing a winning plan. If you want to learn from someone who does what he preaches, then listen his book!

Excellent, practical resource for any leader.

This book was an easy read with a very disciplined strategy to help you get things done. I loved that the authors provided real life cases study examples and discussed the real questions that need to be asked in any business. The three core processes (People, Strategy, and Operations) are broken down and discussed in a way that is easy to digest. It is also easy to directly relate to your current leadership role to improve your team's performance. Overall, it is very useful in helping you achive focus.

Required Reading

If you are in a position of leadership or strive to lead this should be required reading.

content great but one reader had accent

overall the content was helpful and productive but one of the readers had to think of an accent. it was really easy to tune out when he read. Kind of a shame

Dry book but USEFUL

The book gives a perspective of Executive management of a cutthroat performance.

It is worth a second read, it emphasize how your should reward good performance and punish/eliminate bad performance.

It discuss the subject of the execution GAP, between what you want to achieve and what you can to achieve given your company and team capabilities.

It gives guidelines of how to make your team EXECUTE organizational behavior by reward and punishment. USEFUL.

It discusses strategy in a Wall Street thinking like Anton... of cause and effect in the value chain, so it is useful.

It discusses operations but not much, or maybe I need to read it again, but could not get much from it about operations.
He said that you should not need to make your plan fit your budget; since then, you will make a plan that is not workable within your budget and fail.

The main subject of this book, is about the management of people in the organization by rewarding good performance and punishing bad performance of employees. So the organizational culture knows that only execution promotes you and get rewarded.

It also gives a rule of thumb how to manage people so they get things done, by telling them what you want to get done, and scheduling a follow-through meeting to discuss how it got done, and if not, then why? and how to correct it fast?

Also, the people needs to understand that the mission is mandatory and failing it or not delivering results will have bad consequences for them, only this will make they outperform, and make them loyal to the mission.

Worth a second read and summarizing the key management and strategic points.

This strengthens the notion of "control" in projects, and a punishment and reward (consequences) of performance.

The best companies/employees are the ones who can execute well and fast.

Its not enough to tell an employee to shoot a target and forget about it. You must make it a point that his target will check if he hit the mark or not, and it has good and bad consequences. Only this will drive his behavior toward execution.

What Are These Guys Talking About?

I found this book to be excellent. No, I am not a CEO of a fortune 500 company, but a pastor of a small rural church. We are not doing billion dollar deals, but people are people and the principles of execution found in this book work no matter what size your company or non-profit organization is. Sure, there were some chapters I suffered through; all the talk about Six Sigma was Greek to me; yet, I found the book so intriguing that I listened to it three times. If you are a professional who is struggling in getting things done, this is well worth the read. Take a chance, you might be pleasantly surprised.

More corporate strategy than formula for execution

This book started off slow as I bought it wanting concrete information on execution. It turned out to be about corporate strategies and management evaluation. Very little was on execution outside of the corporate management scene. I almost shut it off a third of the way through, but stuck with it. It got better in the middle. It had many case studies of CEO's that I enjoyed, but again not really in line with the title. It was too long for the points they were trying to make and should have been titled, "Getting things done in a corporate setting". Overall it was just OK for me.

This one of my favourites business book!

Would you listen to Execution again? Why?

Yes!

What other book might you compare Execution to and why?

I have some books as Yes! by Robert Cialdini, 7 habits by Stephen Covey what are in my favorite library!

What about John Bedford Lloyd’s performance did you like?

Yes!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Yes!

Great Leadership Book

As an aspiring business leader this book gave me tangible direction. I have actionable steps to take to improve myself and better inspire others after listening to this book. I see why Jamie Dimon recommended it.

Excecution is key

Very good book, agree with everything the authors had to say, The authors real world examples with the theory. A must read for every leader!!