Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

by Larry Bossidy

trade-off issues we noted in chapters 7 and 8. Some strategies contain very specific and clear ideas that will grow the business profitably but that require investment in the current operating period. In such cases the leadership has to make trade-offs.

So I make it a personal challenge: if you don’t accomplish your objective, if you don’t do what you said you were going to do, you are hurting yourself and your teammates. Usually the man will break his chops to make the numbers.

This kind of review process lets you set meaningful stretch goals too. Such goals are a popular leadership technique (popular among leaders, anyhow) for getting people to exert maximum effort.

The key is to evaluate the plausibility of the stretch goal, and there’s a methodology for that. Usually there are fewer than half a dozen factors or assumptions that have to go right, some of them involving luck.

First and foremost, I need to see that you have a handle on it. Two, you’ll know that I know you have a chance to get it done, so you’ll get more resources if you need them. Three, I learn a lot, because the chances are I don’t have an answer about the method of accomplishment.

The heart of the working of a business is how the three processes of people, strategy, and operations link together. Leaders need to master the individual processes and the way they work together as a whole.

The discipline of execution based on the three core processes is the new theory of leadership and organization distilled from practice and abbreviation. We hope you find it useful to change the way you work.

The biggest single difference between businesses that execute and those that don’t is the rigor and intensity with which the leader prosecutes these processes.

We know you believe that people are your organization’s most important assets, but your stewardship of the people process is what will convert that belief to reality.

You need to know at least the top third of the people in your unit in terms of their performance and their growth potential.

And because compensation is the ultimate driver of performance, you must ensure that your compensation system rewards the doers.

First, make sure you and your people really understand your customers: their needs, their buying behaviors, and the changes in those behaviors.

Second, always look for ways to improve your results by introducing initiatives such as Six Sigma or digitization.

Third, maintain and sharpen your intellectual honesty so that you’re always realistic.

Consistent behavior is a sign of a contained ego, and inspires confidence in you from those around you.

Some people grow in their jobs, and others swell. The ones who grow are passionate about their businesses. They’re never too busy being big honchos to pay attention to the important details and stay close to their people. They’re never too high and mighty to listen and learn, to be as curious and inquisitive and open to new ideas as they were the first day of their careers.