Execution by Larry Bossidy – Book Review
Amazon.com Review
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
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
From Library Journal
Bossidy, an award-winning executive at General Electric and Allied Signal, came out of retirement to tend to Honeywell (and bring it back to prominence) after it failed to merge with General Electric. Charan has taught at Harvard and Kellogg Business Schools. Collaborating with editor and writer Burck, they present the viewpoint that execution (that is, linking a company’s people, strategy, and operations) is what will determine success in today’s business world. Bossidy and Charan aver that execution is a discipline integral to strategy, that it is the major job of any business leader hoping not just to be a success but to dominate a market, and that it is a core element of corporate culture. Details of both successful and unsuccessful executions at corporations such as Dell, Johnson & Johnson, and Xerox, to name a few, support not only their how-to method for bringing execution to the forefront but also the need for it. Each author addresses specific topics in paragraphs that begin with either “Larry” or “Ram,” and this easy style adds to the appeal of a very readable book. Recommended for academic and public libraries.
Steven J. Mayover, Philadelphia
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
The Essential Peter Drucker
The Essential Drucker: The Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker’s Essential Writings on Management (Collins Business Essentials) (Paperback)
Amazon.com Review
Ever since his first book was published some six decades ago, Peter Drucker has been essential to everyone serious about the “management of an enterprise (and) the self-management of the individual, whether executive or professional, within an enterprise and altogether in our society of managed organizations.” This distinguished 30-year Claremont University professor has continuously identified critical principles in management, economics, politics, and the world in general. And he has redirected our thinking about them through more than two dozen books, including an autobiography and a couple of works of fiction. Now, with The Essential Drucker, he has overseen the compilation of his most important fundamentals into one indispensable book.
Reaching back as far as 1954 with his treatise “Management by Objectives and Self-Control” (“Each manager, from the ‘big boss’ down to the production foreman or the chief clerk, needs clearly spelled-out objectives” that clarify expected contributions “to the attainment of company goals in all areas of the business”), Drucker’s now-established ideas take on a surprising new relevancy when remixed equally pioneering ideas from the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. Between the thoughtful “Management as Social and Liberal Art” through the provocative “From Analysis to Perception–The New Worldview” (both originally published in 1988′s The New Realities), this book revisits some of modern management’s most inspired writing and presents it in a way that should appeal to both newcomers and those needing a refresher course on Drucker’s basic beliefs. –Howard Rothman
From Booklist
More Drucker! While the prolific nonagenarian and acclaimed management philosopher continues to write–Management Challenges for the 21st Century (1999) is his most recent book–he and others have also been busy compiling and summarizing his most noteworthy work. Peter Drucker on the Profession of Management (1998) is a collection of 13 significant articles that have appeared in the Harvard Business Review. John Flaherty, in Peter Drucker: Shaping the Managerial Mind (1999), and Jack Beatty, in The World According to Peter Drucker (1998), both penned biographical portraits and bibliographic essays that are homages to Drucker and his thoughts. Now Drucker himself has picked 26 selections that consist of chapters excerpted from 10 of the 29 books he has written over the past 60 years. His goal is to offer a “coherent and fairly comprehensive Introduction to Management” and to help those interested in learning more about his ideas determine “which of his writings are [most] essential.” David Rouse
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved –
Peter Drucker died in 2005
Peter Drucker Quotes
A manager is responsible for the application and performance of knowledge.
Accept the fact that we have to treat almost anybody as a volunteer.
Business, that’s easily defined – it’s other people’s money.
Checking the results of a decision against its expectations shows executives what their strengths are, where they need to improve, and where they lack knowledge or information.
Company cultures are like country cultures. Never try to change one. Try, instead, to work with what you’ve got.
Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.
Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.
Executives owe it to the organization and to their fellow workers not to tolerate nonperforming individuals in important jobs.
Few companies that installed computers to reduce the employment of clerks have realized their expectations… They now need more, and more expensive clerks even though they call them ‘operators’ or ‘programmers.’
Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.
Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship. The act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth.
Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes.
Making good decisions is a crucial skill at every level.
Management by objective works – if you know the objectives. Ninety percent of the time you don’t.
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
Most discussions of decision making assume that only senior executives make decisions or that only senior executives’ decisions matter. This is a dangerous mistake.
Most of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get their work done.
My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions.
Never mind your happiness; do your duty.
No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings.
People who don’t take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.
Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.
Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility.
So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work.
Suppliers and especially manufacturers have market power because they have information about a product or a service that the customer does not and cannot have, and does not need if he can trust the brand. This explains the profitability of brands.
Teaching is the only major occupation of man for which we have not yet developed tools that make an average person capable of competence and performance. In teaching we rely on the “naturals,” the ones who somehow know how to teach.
The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
The computer is a moron.
The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.
The most efficient way to produce anything is to bring together under one management as many as possible of the activities needed to turn out the product.
The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.
The new information technology… Internet and e-mail… have practically eliminated the physical costs of communications.
The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different.
The productivity of work is not the responsibility of the worker but of the manager.
The purpose of a business is to create a customer.
There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.
Time is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed.
Today knowledge has power. It controls access to opportunity and advancement.
Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window.
Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes… but no plans.
We can say with certainty – or 90% probability – that the new industries that are about to be born will have nothing to do with information.
We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.
When a subject becomes totally obsolete we make it a required course.
Favorite Leadership Quotes
Leadership is defined as the capacity to lead others. It is the act or instance of guiding. There are so many definitions of leadership that it is hard to get a handle on just what leadership entails. Here are some of my favorite leadership quotes.
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“Leaders are those who know what to do next, know why that is important, and know what appropriate resources to bring to bear on the problem at hand. Then, through effective communication they influence others to follow.” – Barry Bowater
“If you stop learning today, you stop leading tomorrow.” – Howard Hendricks
“It is not such a fearsome thing to lead once you see your leadership as part of God’s overall plan for his world.” – Calvin Miller
“Good leadership is motivating and mobilizing others to accomplish a task or to think in ways that are for the benefit of all concerned.” – Don Page
“Effective leadership is the only competitive advantage that will endure. That’s because leadership has two sides – what a person is (character) and what a person does (competence).” – Stephen Covey
“I believe that you get greater effectiveness in your work when you tie people’s personal mission with the corporate mission.” Richard Barrett, former values coordinator at the World Bank as quoted in the Globe and Mail, June 11, 1999 p.M1.
“Where there is no leadership the people fall, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” – Proverbs 11:14
“A great man shows his greatness by the way he treats little men.” Thomas Carlyle
“Leadership is an engine for creative change.”
“People first, strategy second.” The motto of successful CEOs, Fortune, June 21,1999. p.74.
“Leadership . . . consists of the principles, skills, and attitudes that harness and integrate knowledge, trust and power.” – D.E. Zand in Leadership Triad: Knowledge, Trust, and Power. p. 5.
“Leadership means staying out in front as well as only doing what we can do well.”- Margot Northey, Dean of Queen’s School of Business.
“Some men see the world as it is and ask why; others see the world as it might be and ask why not.” – Bernard Shaw
“Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” Dwight Eisenhower
“Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but what you should have accomplished with your ability.” John Wooden
“Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” John Wooden
“Success is a journey, not a destination.” Ben Sweetland
“The price of greatness is responsibility.” Winston Churchill
“Leadership is not something that you learn once and for all. It is an ever-evolving pattern of skills, talents, and ideas that grow and change as you do.” Sheila Murray Bethel
“From now on, any definition of a successful life must include serving others.” President George Bush
“Our earlier belief that leadership comes about primarily through managerial ability has been replaced by an awareness of skills needed for understanding people and dealing with their problems productively.” Academic Leader, p. 3, Sept. 1994.
“It is not where you are today that counts. It is where you are headed.”
“The distance a person goes is not as important as the direction.”
“Women have for centuries been recognized as talented listeners, nurturers, motivators, excellent communicators. These very qualities that we once were told were unbusinesslike are precisely the qualities that business needs most to tap human potential.” Mary Cunningham Agee
“Supervisors who want the best out of people have to lead, not push. It is harder to do, and it takes a lot more skill. But it is worth the effort.” – Leadership With a Human Touch, January 18, 1994.
“True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the enrichment of the leaders.” Robert Townsend
“You don’t have to be brilliant to be a good leader. But you do have to understand other people – how they feel, what makes them tick, and the best way to influence them.” Leadership, January 19, 1993.
“One of the most important functions of a leader is to make his or her organization concentrate on its objectives.”
“You are not finished when you are defeated. You’re finished when you quit.” Leadership, June 6, 1995, p. 24.
“A good leader is not the person who does things right, but the one who finds the right things to do.” Leadership, August 1, 1995, p. 12
“An ability to embrace new ideas, routinely challenge old ones, and live with paradox will be the effective leaders premier trait.” Tom Peters
“Real leaders have no need to advertise their leadership except by their conduct, sympathy, understanding, and ability.” Leadership, January 16, 1996, p. 7.
“A leader lives with people to know their problems. A leader lives with God in order to solve them.” John Maxwell
“Leadership is not found in position; it is found in action and influence.” Glen Martin and Gary MacIntosh in the Issachar Factor.
“Any successful journey of continual improvement shows five components: a vision of a desired end state; knowledge of where we are now, our present – state; a road map for strategic intent; an internal drive system; a value system of principles.” Robert R. Thompson, Executive Excellence, July, 1995, p. 19.
“Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led.” Warren G. Bennis in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 10.
“Use power to help people. For we are given power not to advance our own purposes nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power and it is to serve people.” George Bush in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 11.
“The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” Kenneth Blanchard in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 18.
“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” John Maxwell in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 26.
“The single most important factor in determining the climate of an organization is the top executive.” Charles Galloway in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 28.
“The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind in other people the convictions and the will to carry on.” Quoted in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 60.
“Ability may get you to the top–but it takes character to keep you there.” Quoted in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 78.
“The highest compliment leaders can receive is the one that is given by the people who work for them.” Quoted in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 109.
“The successful leader is the one who makes the right move at the right moment with the right motive.” Quoted in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 111.
“The first step to leadership is servanthood.” John Maxwell in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 122.
“The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.” Ray Kroc in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 148.
“The size of a leader is determined by the depth of his convictions, the height of his ambitions, the breadth of his vision and the reach of his love.” D. N. Jackson in Leadership Inspirational Quotes & Insights for Leaders, p. 155.
“If you don’t choose to do it in leadership time up front, you do it in crisis management time down the road.” Stephen Covey
“Everything rises and falls on leadership.” John Maxwell
“Managers are people who do things right, and leaders are people who do the right thing.” Warren Bennis
“The leadership that frees people to be their best, affirms them in their diversity and includes them in the dreams, decisions and benefits of the organization is a servant leader.” James M. Childs, Jr.
“Servant leadership propels organizational success.” Ken Blanchard
“The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.” Faye Whattleton
“Eventually relationships determine the size and the length of leadership.” John C. Maxwell
“It is always easy to do right when you know ahead of time what you stand for.” Don Meyer
“Leadership is influence.” John C. Maxwell
“Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better.” Bill Bradley (US Senator)
“Leadership is: knowing what to do next, knowing why it is important, and knowing how to bring appropriate resources to bear on the need at hand.” Bobb Biehl in Minute Motivators.
“The world of the 1990s and beyond will not belong to ‘managers’ or those who can make the numbers dance. The world will belong to passionate, driven leaders-people who not only have enormous amounts of energy but who can energize those whom they lead.” Jack Welch
“Leadership has less to do with position than it has with disposition.” John C. Maxwell
“Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes.” by J. C Rost in Leadership for the Twenty-First Century. p.102.
“We lose sight of the most important factors that lead to successful leadership: commitment, a passion to make a difference, a vision for achieving positive change, and the courage to take action.” by Larraine Matusak in Finding Your Voice: Learning to Lead Anywhere You Want to Make a Difference. p. 7.
“While great leaders may be as rare as great runners, great actors, or great painters, everyone has leadership potential, just as everyone has some ability at running, acting, and painting.” by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus in Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge. p. 222.
“Commitment in the face of challenge produces character.” John C. Maxwell
Adaptive Leaders For Economic Uncertainty
Economic Uncertainty Needs Adaptive Leaders
By Michael G Sanders
“It’s not the strongest of the species that survives, or the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” – Charles Darwin
I just read an article titled, “Carrollton’s oldest business closing its doors.” The owners go on to say, “The current economic times, changing customer buying trends and suppliers’ business conditions, all were factored into this decision to close.” It’s a sad story but it is far from the only one. With the unbelievable instability of our economy we all know too well that businesses come and go. Technology advancements, market volatility, new business models, globalization and the speed of business create an environment of rapid change and challenge that can cause your head to spin.
If you are reading this article your business has about a 30% chance of being around in 2010. Those odds aren’t very good. It reminds me of the movie The Patriot starring Mel Gibson. The British Army came to fight the war of Independence as they had always fought wars. They lined up their soldiers facing the enemy hoping that they had more men prepared to take a bullet than the Americans did. Mel Gibson had a different strategy. He and his band of misfits attacked the British using guerilla warfare. The British failed to adapt to the change in warfare resulting is severe casualties. The small band of guerillas did more damage to those British soldiers than was imaginable at the time.
The same will happen to today’s businesses if they don’t adapt. If you fight your wars in business the way you have always done it you may be attacked and blindsided by some guerilla warriors. Or you can choose to be the guerilla warrior yourself. When you learn to adapt you can survive the onslaught of competitive forces that will come at you in the future. The strategies that brought you success in the past may be the last plans to implement in the future. If you plan on surviving in today’s competitive environment you better change strategies. Adapt or Die! It’s the mantra for the leaders of the future. The ability to adapt to changing circumstances on a daily basis will allow your company to survive and even thrive on the battlefield of business. A recent study by IBM Global Business Services said that an “adaptable workforce is a critical capability.” Warren Bennis, a noted author in the field of leadership says, “Adaptive capacity… is the essential competence of leaders.”
Crawford International conducted a study of the relationship between adaptable organizations and financial performance. Leaders in more than two-hundred Fortune 500 companies were interviewed. The businesses with an adaptive corporate culture experienced a net income growth of 989% over ten years. The businesses with a non-adaptive corporate culture saw a net income decline of 47% over the same ten year period.
The real business challenge is that only 14% of companies say their workforce is very capable of adapting to change. It is no wonder so many businesses go into extinction every year. Of the Forbes 100 companies of 1917, only 13 have survived independently today. Of those 13 companies that have survived, all but one has been mediocre to poor performers.
Every day new challenges are coming your way. Ensure success for the future by being confident that your company is prepared for the unknown challenges of tomorrow. As the complexity of your operating environment increases so will your need for adaptable leaders. Karl Weick said, “Leaders who are highly adaptive are able to thrive in uncertainty, quickly make sense of complex environments, provide creative solutions in ambiguous situations, and help others do the same.” Does this describe the leaders in you company? If not, it’s time to change.
Adapt or Die… The decision is yours!
Mike Sanders is president and co-founder of Adaptable Leadership, LLC, a leadership development
company that creates organizational leaders prepared for the unknown challenges of tomorrow.
Adaptable Leadership’s co-founder has developed leader assessment and development tools for the most elite Special Forces unit of the US Army. His work has resulted in selection tools that are utilized by half of the National Football League during the draft process. Mike can be reached at
msanders@adaptableleadership.com or http://www.adaptableleadership.com
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