|
Execution, The Disciple of Getting Things Done (精装)
by Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan, Charles Burck
| Category:
Execution, Leadership, Management |
| Market price: ¥ 298.00
MSL price:
¥ 238.00
[ Shop incentives ]
|
| Stock:
In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
You know you can never emphasize enough the importance of execution. So why not listen to those tough get-done guys such as Bossidy and Welch? |
| If you want us to help you with the right titles you're looking for, or to make reading recommendations based on your needs, please contact our consultants. |
|
| |
AllReviews |
1 2   | Total 2 pages 12 items |
|
|
L.R. Raymond (Chairman and CEO, Exxon Mobil), USA
<2006-12-21 00:00>
Good practical insight and advice on managing for results at firms of any size. Execution is key and this book clearly explains what it means and how it brings together the critical elements of any organization – its people, strategies, and operations. |
|
|
Ralph Larson (Chairman and CEO, Johnson & Johnson), USA
<2006-12-21 00:00>
The best thought-out plans in the world aren’t worth the paper they’re written on if you can’t pull them off. And that’s what this book is all about. |
|
|
Jack Welch, USA
<2006-12-21 00:00>
A great practitioner and an insightful theorist join forces to write a compelling business story of “how to get it done”. |
|
|
Rolf Dobelli, Switzerland
<2006-12-21 00:00>
Most companies, like most individuals, excel at making plans, but are not as talented when it comes to actually carrying them out. Thus, execution - the ability to get things done, particularly on a strategic level - has become the sine qua non of management science. Authors Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan observe that some people grow when promoted to executive leadership, while others merely swell. Those who lose touch with the operational realities of their businesses soon find themselves boldly leading a company going nowhere. The practical value of achieving objectives and getting things done must be instilled at every level of your company, and injected into the very DNA of your corporate culture. Anything less, and your company will under perform. Bossidy and Charan have sterling credentials when it comes to getting things done for America's leading corporations. They say execution is nothing more than faithfully practicing the right techniques with a disciplined approach. We recommend reading this book to help you turn your plans and strategies into accomplishments and victories. |
|
|
An American reader, USA
<2006-12-21 00:00>
Most companies, like most individuals, excel at making plans, but are not as talented when it comes to actually carrying them out. Thus, execution - the ability to get things done, particularly on a strategic level - has become the sine qua non of management science. Authors Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan observe that some people grow when promoted to executive leadership, while others merely swell. Those who lose touch with the operational realities of their businesses soon find themselves boldly leading a company going nowhere. The practical value of achieving objectives and getting things done must be instilled at every level of your company, and injected into the very DNA of your corporate culture. Anything less, and your company will under perform. Bossidy and Charan have sterling credentials when it comes to getting things done for America's leading corporations. They say execution is nothing more than faithfully practicing the right techniques with a disciplined approach. We recommend reading this book to help you turn your plans and strategies into accomplishments and victories. |
|
|
Mathew Dodd, USA
<2006-12-21 00:00>
Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan, two highly respected and experienced business thinkers, took many existing common-sense (not necessarily common practice) ideas and presented them through the "new" lens of creating a culture of execution ("Not simply tactics, but a system of getting things done through questioning, analysis, and follow-through...The way to link the three core processes of any business - the people process, the strategy, and the operating plan - together to get things done on time."). The result was a book with a lot of potential for all organizations and their leaders to improve their individual and collective effectiveness and competitiveness.
This book offered a detailed, holistic approach to what it takes to effectively get things done. The authors included many great examples (especially the letter to a new leader at the very end of the book), and years of personal observations to reinforce their disciplined execution culture perspective. Some of the main points repeated throughout the book were the critical role of leadership in fostering honest, accurate, and constructive communications at all levels; a constant emphasis on accountability and follow-through; and how learning how to ask great, probing questions with a purpose can lead to the type of dialogue at any level that will bring reality into focus so effective decisions can be made.
I recommend this book to anyone who has ever looked at his/her organization with pride and thought, "There is absolutely nothing we cannot do," or with disgust and wondered, "Can we ever do anything right?" This book can help you understand the "why" behind both extremes and possibly give you a new way of looking at and putting to use some well-known, common-sense ideas.
|
|
|
Tom, USA
<2006-12-21 00:00>
Aha! A generic program-of-the-month book. The basic approach recommended by the authors is Management By Initiative. Get one "initiative" going, and move on to the next when the first is still underway. Make sure, naturally, you have the necessary resources in place to execute the initiative. Initiatives inherently focus on specific issues while slighting others.
One example from the book is enough to challenge its thought consistency and its credibility. When the head of purchasing in an organization claimed it needed twenty engineers to work with vendors on cost reduction, the head of engineering balked. Bossidy salutes the CEO who "coaches" the VP of engineering into understanding how he will have 20 engineers working with purchasing by the following Monday. He doesn't ask what tasks the 20 engineers are working on or the negative impact that will have on the chain of people working with these people. The "initiative" of the day requires 20 engineers. Dilbert has a new job on Monday, and probably keeps his old one too. In another example, Bossidy describes chiding a manager whose people are working seven days a week, and in a third he commends a CEO whose team works 7 days a week for 10 weeks to build a new strategy and execution plan. Sort of "do as I say, not as I do?"
The second bugaboo is Bossidy's insistence that "the customer is first." But what that means, and how subordinates are supposed to live with that mantra is never explained. Bossidy couldn't make his numbers at Allied Signal AND keep customers happy, so he sold off those businesses. It isn't mentioned in the book, but Lear looked at the same markets and problems and found a way to address them more successfully, though not without ongoing struggle. Sure, this is a simplistic view, but "the customer is first" without a framework, is a guaranteed death spiral.
Bossidy claims to be Six Sigma advocate, but he never offers his framework for its application or a specific example of how it worked. So, Execution's an interesting contrast to the more fundamental and enterprise wide process improvement approach being driven for example by lean advocates. Again, everything is a series of "initiatives." Bossidy argues that initiatives won't be seen as "flavors of the month" if the initiatives are properly executed.
The meatiest against-the-grain thought in the book is that senior management has to be directly and intimately involved in initiatives and operations. That thought has to be a distasteful shock to most American senior management, reason enough to burn the book. And, the authors clearly don't think a sociopathic personality is essential for strong, senior management, another shock.
Also to their credit they recognize failure is often driven from the top by CEO's who aren't up to the task, and they offer a few names. I suspect the follow on book, Confronting Reality, which simply rehashes some of Execution's material, is a result of the frustration from working as consultants and on boards with intransigent people after Execution was published. One of the main weaknesses is a shortage of examples of successes, with details of pivotal points along the way.
Given the title Execution, the unsurprising main message of the book is that great ideas, great strategies are nothing without execution. True, and all too often assumed rather than driven. The writing's good enough to keep your eyes open on a short flight. The authors have significant and credible experience so it's worth one read if only to drink a bit from that trough, then pass it on. And if you haven't read it, think defensively, the same colleague who gave you Who Moved My Cheese? is going to give it to you anyway. |
|
|
Dennis Mitton, USA
<2006-12-21 00:00>
I found a lot of helpful ideas and concepts in this book: many of them immediately applicable. Business is a lot of things but, in the end, it's about doing something. This very readable book helps you see the entire chain of `doing' and break it down to quantifiable steps. Mostly I think the book helps you focus in on your business and think hard about your product or service. This focus helps to clarify your processes and goals - whether they are in house framing or motel management - and create plans to do things better. Another thing I like about the concept is that this focus helps you to weed out those things that don't contribute to efficient `doing.' There's admittedly not a lot of groundbreaking stuff here but the presentation is excellent and it's always a good time to look over the basics again. |
|
|
An American reader, USA
<2006-12-21 00:00>
Based on the backgrounds of the author's and the fact that they have brought promising results and accomplishments to their companies makes this a good book to read to gain insight on successful execution. The author's define 3 building blocks of successful execution and 3 core processes for proper execution. The common themes are the leader's involvement, the right people, and the proper use of communication. They demonstrate these through a series of examples from big name companies such as Xerox, Ford, Chrysler, and Lucent. There is a lot that can be learned from this book as many people take the act of execution within a company for granted and focus too much on the numbers, rather than linking actions with strategy. The book is written in very general terms in which one can mold the process to fit their needs. Overall, it was an interesting book and is highly recommended to anyone wishing to better understand the discipline of execution. |
|
|
Clovis, USA
<2006-12-21 00:00>
Introduction
The authors explicate the importance of execution in organizations. Although I am reluctant to state it, I honestly consider this book a must-read for professionals determined to enhance the capabilities of their organizations.
Highlight:
- What is Execution?
- It is a discipline and a system, built into an organization's strategy, goals, and culture. For execution to work, leaders must be deeply engaged in it. Essentially, it is a specific set of behaviors and techniques that companies must master to develop a sustainable competitive advantage. Ultimately, the authors state that strategies most often fail due to a lack of execution.
- How to Develop the Discipline and System of Execution?
- It requires a rigorous discussion of an organization, constant questioning (productive questioning), tenacious follow through, and organizational accountability. To execute effectively, leaders must know their organization, the business environment, and be unafraid to confront reality. An important feature of execution involves linking rewards with desirable outcomes.
- Building Blocks of Execution include:
(1) Leadership
(a) Realism
(b) Clear goals
(c) Rewards for the doers
(d) Expanding people's capabilities.
(2) Organizational culture
(a) Understand the software (beliefs and behaviors) of an organization as well as its hardware (strategy and structure)
(b) The organization must act to new thinking, not think itself to new actions
(c) Provide rewards to performance
(d) Help people master the desired behaviors
(e) Facilitate robust dialogue in the framework of openness and candor and informality.
(3) The right people
(a) "Many jobs are filled with the wrong people because the leaders who promote them are comfortable with them" (p. 116).
(b) Spending time on developing people will result in a payoff of a sustainable competitive advantage.
(c) Hire people determined to succeed, look at their backgrounds. Have they glided along their lives?
(d) Critical: hire people with a drive to succeed, negating the education and pedigree of a person.
(e) When hiring, understand that some people interview well and others do not. (Why do people not understand this?) "A person who doesn't interview well may ... be the best choice" (p. 129).
- Executing
- The processes of execution are strategy, people, and operations. To execute, all must be linked. The book contains incredible depth on the processes of execution, and it is very difficult for me to adequately review them. Although, say, 130 pages are devoted to the processes of execution, the content is extensive. Two concepts I should note are simultaneity and synchronization in organizations.
- A Model of Execution?
- Jack Welch, according to the authors, is the best example of a business leader who understood execution. Jack Welch's heart and soul were immersed in GE, and he was engaged in the process of execution personally and deeply; he managed the three core processes (selecting leaders, setting direction, and conducting operations) effectively.
- Conclusion
Execution is crucial in organization. In fact, it is what separates the successful from the failures. Everyone must understand what execution is and how to execute for an organization to fulfill its potential. |
|
|
|
1 2 | Total 2 pages 12 items |
|
|
|
|
|
|
