Comments

Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan is one of the most useful books recommended by Tom that I have ever read. I would urge all who are interested in the topic of this post by Tom to read it. Here is what they say about strategy:

"A business unit strategy should be less than fifty pages long and should be easy to understand. Its essence should be describable in one page ... If you can't describe your strategy in twenty minutes, simply and in plain language, you haven't got a plan."

And, then, of course, the rest of the book describes how to implement, i.e., execution.

Posted by cathy mosca at July 21, 2006 9:24 AM

Great rant for a Friday Tom - I'm sure you feel better for that!!

I am in the 'execution team' every time but I recognise the place of 'process' - as long as there is not too much of it.

I was impressed at the conference you could not come to in Birminghanm last November by something Professor Charles Handy said in his inspring talk;

'Wise mountaineers are never ashamed to take a guide with them'

I like that.

BTW - the lake looks terrific - did you catch your breakfast? :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at July 21, 2006 9:30 AM

Hi Tom, talking about Execution, Opportunities and Leadership, a remarkable statement from Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, " the winners will be those who can see opportunities and drive the necessary changes to capitalize on them.",
Regards,
Marcelo

Posted by Marcelo Goldstein at July 21, 2006 9:58 AM

Great post Tom. One observation I have made of great leaders is in addition to developing their talent, they also trust their people and that trust tends to pervade the entire organization. If the leader does not show confidence in her/his people the rest of the organization can easily become paralized.

Posted by Andrew Hayden at July 21, 2006 10:32 AM

I can't remember if I've ever heard you talk about John Boyd and the OODA loop (Boyd: The fighter pilot who changed the art of war by Robert Coram). Boyd fits in with the other "heros" mentioned in this post and in your slide show. OODA loop is all about execution! (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act - faster than the other guy!)

Posted by Greg Kittinger at July 21, 2006 10:52 AM

What I like about the OODA loop is it doesn't play down the importance of observation, analysis, decision making in the process - all it says is you have to do all of these things quickly.

If your analysis and decision making process is slow - don't scrap it - find a way to do it quickly. Strangly this often requires practice - especially in groups so that you get the best information and make snappy decisions

Posted by PaulH at July 21, 2006 11:12 AM

woohooo!
Tom peters Rock!

look what i have in my msn - nick name: Agile Is Best . Execution Mania . Passion . Suffered from "the slows"

keep'em coming great thoughts/facts! u damn good at this! i can hear you saying it << I actually met you and took your autograph....

Posted by shohra at July 21, 2006 11:14 AM

""action addict." He constitutionally had to be on the move." ... interesting - Grant unlike "Trevor" - constantly ready for nap time after a 6-pack :>}

Posted by sean at July 21, 2006 11:59 AM

Tom - this is probably why I've grown to love your perspective - it's so validating!!! (selfish me!)

I am SOOOOO tired of people thinking that an execution focus makes you too tactical (DIRTY WORD). I have been in the strategy meetings. I've facilitated them. I formulated the strategy but it all comes to NOTHING if YOU CAN'T DO IT!!! I often chuckle when I hear people paranoid about someone stealing their idea when they couldn't implement their way out of a paper bag! Hearing is nothing, strategizing is nothing if you can't DO!

As I've always said:
Strategy without Execution is Philosophy!!!

Posted by ann michael at July 21, 2006 12:03 PM

Sean - I missed your comment. That's hysterical. I remember reading that when people complained to Lincoln about Grant's drinking problem he supposedly said that he wanted a case of whatever Grant was drinking sent to all his military leaders!!!

Posted by ann michael at July 21, 2006 12:12 PM

Pass me my pills 'Nurse Sean' ... you are right ... it's time for my afternoon nap :-)

Posted by Trevor at July 21, 2006 12:32 PM

.... talk of pills & drink & military shrewdness & sudden action - the best kind of unruly meet-me-at-the-blank posse ... :>}

Posted by sean at July 21, 2006 12:52 PM

Execution without strategy can still make something happen. Strategy without execution is dead in the water.

To paraphrase A.G. Lafley of P&G, your customers don't have a CLUE what your strategy brief is...they only know your strategy by what you EXECUTE.

Posted by Paul at July 21, 2006 1:07 PM

Let me pick up on the leaders versus management. Quoth TP

"First: 'Strategy" vs. "Execution.' Next up another sacred elephant: 'Leadership' VERSUS 'Management.' Stupid idea of the decade: "Managers do things right. Leaders do the right thing."

I would make that Stupid Idea of the Decade as well, but not primarily for the reasons Tom articulated.

Look at the formulation. It's almost always in terms of "being" rather than "doing." Leaders do this and managers do that. Nonsense!!

When you become responsible for the performance of a group you're supposed to do leadership things (set and communicate direction and purpose) and management things (set action priorities, schedule, plan, etc) and also, the forgotten one, supervision things (dealing with individuals about their own performance and behavior). You do all three kinds of work whether you're a first-line supervisor leading a production team or the CEO or anyone in between with group responsibility.

The idea that "we need more leaders and fewer managers" is dead wrong. We need leaders who are willing to embody their message. If the boss cares about customers and communicates that in words and action, those below the boss will care, too. As Douglas MacArthur said, "If I do it, the colonels will do it. If the colonels do it, the captains will do it, and so on."

Leadership is, as has been said here, ultimately about action. It's about behavior (what people say and do) and about performance (the results of behavior). It's about using your behavior to influence the behavior of those who work for you.

Posted by Wally Bock at July 21, 2006 1:13 PM

Still trying to source that "Art of War" Grant quote -- although I was certainly thrilled to be cited in a TP slide! I did find it (unfootnoted) in the preface to Jean Edward Smith's Grant biography. I'll keep looking -- gotta be somewhere!

Posted by Richard Cauley at July 21, 2006 1:59 PM

Right on again, Tom. There was another military great that a certain case could be made for strategy and that would be Gen. George Patton. But when one really looks at him, he really was one who pushed execution and leadership. He just happened to be a student of strategy and used it along with the execution and leadership.

Another example. Lots of us would think that Jesus would be a perfect example of leadership. He would also be a really lousy example of strategy. The Jewish counsel seemed to be using strategy against Him and their leadership seemed to be sorely lacking. Interesting, huh?

Posted by Al at July 21, 2006 2:50 PM

My dear friend Cathy recommended Bossidy's execution...and it is a great read. Problem is, most folks never got past the title and actually read the thing. This book is truly about leadership, not managment...

Posted by Mike Neiss at July 21, 2006 6:49 PM

W R O N G !!!

Leadership is COURAGE. The courage to be right and the courage to be wrong.
Courage, having the intestinal fortitude to see the bias, or be exposed to the bias in your perceived facts!

There are too many wimps and pansies disguising themselves as leaders.

Posted by Dan Feliciano at July 22, 2006 9:23 AM

"No mas" - Prize fight - Sugar Ray Leonard humiliates: Roberto Duran - ala Dan's wimp & pansie line above.

With 16 seconds left in the eighth round, Duran, whose professional life had been built upon the precepts of Latin American machismo, had enough. He told the referee, "No mas, no mas." And the myth of Duran's invincibility was shattered.

After regaining his title, Leonard said, "To make a man quit, to make a Roberto Duran quit, was better than knocking him out."

Grant & the Civil War = total waste of 500,000 soldiers killed - let south secede - only very few were property owners.

Posted by sean at July 22, 2006 3:36 PM

I like strategy.
It's fun, exciting...safe.

But it ain't worth nothing
without execution.

The great strategies floating around
only became great
when they were implemented
and implemented successfully.

Til then,
they were merely unproven dreams.

Posted by K at July 22, 2006 4:16 PM

To me, leaders, and those who EXECUTE well manage agreements while managers, and those who do NOT execute well, try to manage people. True leaders expect NOTHING, but agree to (and inspire) big things. Managers (soon to be victims) live on expectations, and are therefore DISAPPOINTED all the time. To lead big, create big agreements and then manage those agreements. To manage small, try to WIN APPROVAL at work and at home.

Posted by steve chandler at July 22, 2006 4:27 PM

Tom: I hope you realize that you cannot take any action without having an inkling of the process sequence of your actions - deliberate or sub-conscious (Gladwell's Blink-style). So Action without at least some thought-through of the various factors that will affect your options. Evaluation of those factors is also "strategy" .. aint it?

Does Strategy have to be a written long deliberated statement of the length of "War and Peace"? Can it be a quick 5 minute evaluation? IMHO.. certainly!

Just like the Evolution versus Intelligence debate is inherently a meaningless one (Evolution without Involution is not possible; and Involution without Evolution is meaningless)....

.. similarly,

Execution without Strategy (strategic intent) is not possible; and Strategy without Execution is meaningless!

..best,

Desh
- BusinessMusings.com
- businessintelligence.typepad.com

Posted by Desh at July 22, 2006 10:57 PM

On another note...

.. it is no fun running up a ladder only to find it has been along the wrong wall all along!

Aligning the ladder along the correct wall is, in my opinion 80% of the job.

So, while Strategy is the Gun-powder/bullet; Execution is the Trigger.

No use having a heck of the lot gun-powder if you do not know how to pull the trigger. But ask the best slingshot how he would feel with a gun without the gunpowder/bullet!!

Cheers,
Desh
- BusinessMusings.com
- businessintelligence.typepad.com

Posted by Desh at July 22, 2006 11:05 PM

peanut butter and jelly without bread
is a handfull

Posted by pete stafford at July 23, 2006 3:22 AM

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it's funny that the term strategy has come to always mean something big - to me it's just a point where you take a look at where you want to go before coming up with a plan of how you are going to get there. For some situations thats a ten minute job. But spending that 10 minutes to focus on a specific direction and make sure everyone knows where you are going is vital

To be honest I dont think the problem is about people being too much into strategy or too much into execution.

I think the real skill that is missing is in accuratly assessing how much of each you have to do in any given situation. Some situations require a detailed analysis, some fit a quick and dirty prototype to try something out.

In the companies I have worked in I have seen a woeful lack of ability in managers to be able to adapt their thinking, planning and execution techniques to suite the task in hand.

Even worse I have seen a complete absense of recognition that different situations actually require different approaches - let alone carry it out.

If you have a hammer everything looks like a nail.....

In meetings I know I am good at some things and poor at others but the real skill is in knowing when to bring my expertise to the forefront (and consume valuable time) and when to shut up!

Posted by PaulH at July 23, 2006 5:10 AM

I have a basic principle of Decision Making:

"In any decision two things are important: Time and Analysis.

Do not Analyze so much that the time becomes irrelevant."

Cheers,
Desh
- BusinessMusings.com
- businessintelligence.typepad.com

Posted by Desh at July 23, 2006 8:44 AM

pete stafford you made me laugh out loud!!! Thanks!

Posted by ann michael at July 23, 2006 9:23 AM

Dear Tom,

with regard to service oriented businesses, I do fully agree with your statements. But when you look at E-commerce focussed businesses, things might be different. I believe that in the interactive world of E-business (-firms), where both, the attraction of clients and the revenue generation is being done by automated computer-processes via broad-band-cable, strategy could be the crucial success factor! Some of the big internet-firms do not even maintain an opportunity for their (potential) customers to contact their people/staff personally. But of course, one needs to implement strategy with power and passion as well as with the right people, at least at the management level.

Best Regards from Berlin
Horst

Posted by Horst Schueberl at July 23, 2006 10:34 AM

Another reason we need to take consistent ACTION...in business and in life = EVERYONE is a LEADER.

Stop waiting for a promotion (or permission) and make a difference now.

We're all a leader to someone - children, employees, community and church members, neighbors, etc. - and they DO notice what we DO (or DON'T DO!).
...

Posted by Jeff Pasquale at July 23, 2006 1:16 PM

STRATEGY vs. ACTION
McCLELLAN vs. GRANT

To get the impact of what Tom is talking about, all you have to do is go back to the Civil War and compare the worst general with the best. McClellan did nothing but strategize and dithered and dithered sitting on an overwhelming force while Lee, with much fewer troops took constant action, always changing tactics to meet changing circumstances, proceeded to eat McClellan's lunch at every turn. McClellan refused to take action until he was "ready," which was never. Grant took constant action and won the war.

overnight delivery for viagra 'Nuff said.

Posted by Richard Cauley at July 23, 2006 2:45 PM

What I think about MANAGEMENT and (vs.) LEADERSHIP

Management & Leadership are two notions that are often used interchangeably, in any context (moreover in a business context) and I feel leadership is just one of the many assets (facets) a successful manager must possess.

A manager cannot just be a leader; he also needs formal authority to be effective. Also, in some circumstances, leadership is not required (many of you may not agree with me on this one)…for example: self motivated groups may not require a single leader and may find leaders dominating.

Managers think incrementally, whilst leaders think radically. This means that managers do things by the book and follow company policy, while leaders follow their own intuition, which may in turn be of more benefit to the company & its stakeholders. A leader is more emotional than a manager. Men are governed by their emotions rather than their intelligence. Leaders stand out by being different. They question assumption and are suspicious of tradition. They seek out the truth and make decisions based on fact, not prejudice (As N.R.Narayanamurthy of Infosys once said, In god we trust…everyone else brings data to the table!). They have a preference for innovation.

A leader is someone who people naturally follow through their own choice, whereas a manager must be obeyed and may only have obtained his position of authority through time and loyalty given to the company, not as a result of his leadership qualities. A leader may have no organizational skills, but his vision unites people behind.

Management usually consists of people who are experienced in their field, and who have worked their way up the company. A manager knows how each layer of the system works and may also possess a good technical knowledge. A leader can be a new arrival to a company who has bold, fresh, new ideas but might not have experience or WISDOM.

Posted by K.Sriram at July 23, 2006 6:58 PM

I wrote something called 'Leadership and Management - Chalk and Cheese'

This was my summary

The Leaders among my past bosses:

*Have high levels of integrity
*Are focused on the bigger picture
*Are not comfortable with “intense detail”
*Make me feel part of their vision
*Do not punish mistakes – they see mistakes as a learning opportunity
*Challenge the status quo
*Are not afraid of unpopularity.

The Managers among my past bosses:

*Are process driven
*Are comfortable with detail
*Are more interested in the bottom line than the wider vision
*Want to measure everything
*Are not comfortable challenging the corporate view.

The full article is at this link
http://www.iwrite4u.co.uk/page.php?domain_name=iwrite4u.co.uk&viewpage=chalk%20and%20cheese

Posted by Trevor Gay at July 24, 2006 2:50 AM

I fall into the camp that says you need a strategy but that a reasonable strategy brilliantly executed right now beats the pants off a much-delayed brilliant strategy that’s only reasonably well executed.

I think one of the problems in all this is that too many people treat strategy as some kind of exact and measurable science. The plan is held up as The One and Only Way Forward and it’s expected to materialise to the day and the penny. A roomful of people will spend man-months monitoring it and explaining deviations. Turf wars will erupt about blame and responsibility for these deviations. Careers will depend on the outcome of the strategy so – no surprise here – people will focus on the plan and justifying it rather than on getting on with business.

Shouldn’t we be more concerned about having some clear and straightforward business objectives that everyone can align to? And routinely review not just progress against the plan but whether the plan is still the best one? It seems to me that the most important parts of any plan are:

Alignement - of people, incentives and systems.
Agility – to react to short-term market and/or operating issues.
Adaptability – to react to fundamental market changes.
Execution!

Posted by MarkJF at July 24, 2006 3:25 AM

Strategy is needed, but first there must be vision...a drive to pursue the unseen. In that zone you won't have all the details and some may say you're crazy. Churchill certainly encountered this.

Once a leader (managers don't go into this territory)sees what is unseen, they're driven to get it (execution). The details of "how" are not as important as what beats in their heart...the drive to make what is unseen a reality for all.

Posted by Eric Pennington at July 24, 2006 6:59 AM

OK, I don't know much about the military and especially not about military leadership history, but am learning, thanks to your info. about the Civil War. And I do love this quote from General Patton: "Don't tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results."

I'm wondering if lack of vision in business might have to do with fear on the part of the management. If managers are the ones to take care of the execution, they may not be comfortable in the unknown, which is where leadership and vision live. From what I'm reading here, we really do need both leadership and management; however, without a vision the people perish.

Posted by Jodee Bock at July 24, 2006 8:13 AM

You go Tom! Was there a bit of passion in that post? Times 10. My old boss (who you might know of, Jack Kent Cooke) used to say to me constantly "my boy, there are two kinds of business people in this world, thinkers and doers. I'm a doer. Which ones do you think are the most successful?" That biased me toward doing to the point that "strategy" is a word I never use or think of. Mix "doing" with "passion" and you get magic. Or one heck of a blog post. Thanks Tom.

Posted by Starbucker at July 24, 2006 8:34 AM

"Plans are always wrong but some of them are useful." Albert Einstein. I don't feel inclined to argue...

Posted by MarkJF at July 24, 2006 10:16 AM

Jodee - I think you are right - fear is one of the overriding emotions in business - I don't mean petrified shaking kind if fear (although that happens all too often) but managers being afraid to rock the boat, to stick their necks out, to be different. Management allows people to be part of the furniture. Leadership is often about taking risks - doing what is right.

Do new starters, straight out of school or university go into the world of work and start being political (in a bad way!) no they go in wanting to do amazing stuff and do what is right - what their hearts tell them to do. Somewhere along the way that gets knocked out of them.

This to me is the single most tragic thing in the corporate world today because to me that is where future leaders/doers get changed into future managers/turf fighters

Posted by PaulH at July 24, 2006 10:21 AM

30 years ago Mike (of the Porter variety) opined that every company has a strategy, whether it is explicit or implict they all have one - it is what they actually do not what they say they are going to do !

This resonates well with an action bias, but seems to have become lost in the years since.

Vision and Execution (combined) define excellent leadership ... but excellent leaders might come in pairs - Lincoln and Grant; Gates and Ballmer; etcetera.

Burns (and subsequently Bass & Avolio) defined leaders as being EITHER transformational (visionary) or transactional (execution), but this is simply not true. Vision and Execution are 'situational' ... when does a leader need to exhibit which behaviour ?

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leadership is as complicated and as simple as defining in appropriate measures, at appropriate times combinations of vision and execution.

Posted by Darryl Carlton at July 24, 2006 5:41 PM

Awesome article.
Thank you

Posted by Dave Sovde at July 28, 2006 8:30 PM