Growing Edge Book Review: The Secret to Getting Things Done
Three overlooked processes between vision and completion.
Ed Rowell
July 1, 2003
Like the townspeople to the boy who cried "Wolf!" my friends have long grown weary of my raving about "the best book I've ever read." So now I qualify my latest find by saying, "This is the best book I've read since …" That said, Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done (Crown Business/Random House, 2002) is the best (business) book I've read since Good to Great. For the 15 years I've been in ministry, the leadership buzzword has been "vision." I'd say a lot of us are getting pretty good at painting a picture of a preferable future. It's helping, but we still aren't lighting and salting the world as much as we'd hoped. We usually experience breakdown between the vision we've cast and the results our churches experience. So what's the answer? According to this book, it's execution. "Strategies most often fail because they aren't executed well… . Either the organizations aren't capable of making them happen, or the leaders of the business misjudge the challenges their companies face … or both." Authors Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan insist that the role of the leader in what they call "productivity cultures" requires paying strict attention to three core processes—picking other leaders, setting the strategic direction, and conducting operations. "These actions are the substance of execution, and leaders cannot delegate them regardless of the size of the organization." They explain: "The strategy process defines where a business wants to go, and the people process defines who's going to get it there. The operating process provides the path for those people." These three are not compartmentalized, but intrinsically connected, with each serving as a link to the other two. Thinking in terms of this strategy/people/operations triad ...
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