Bootstrap Leadership Blog

While leadership is often associated with vision, strategy, and rallying the troops, the fact is that leadership always boils down to one thing – getting things done.  No leader lasts long if they can’t make things happen.  The best leaders move the needle and get results – in short, they are relentlessly focused on execution.

Recently, I re-read Execution – The Discipline of Getting Things Done (2002) by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan, and marveled at its simple brilliance.  Bossidy is the former CEO of Honeywell and Allied Signal, and spent much of his career at General Electric.  Charan is an accomplished management consultant who advises CEOs at some of the world’s leading companies.  Together, they lay out the basics of how and why business leaders at all levels need to be involved with execution.

Bossidy had a reputation as a no-nonsense leader, and it’s easy to see why from this book.  His passion for execution comes through on every page, and the authors do a good job of selling the steak of results rather than the sizzle of vision.  Building a high-performing culture isn’t easy; we all know companies that were touted as having grand visions and strategies but couldn’t make them work.  Execution is the difference between being successful and finishing in the second division. 

Bossidy and Charan cite three core processes that must be managed closely: strategy (the why and the what), operations (the how) and people (the who).   Paying close attention to what needs to get done is only the beginning.  After that, the leader needs to put the right people on the task, and ensure the right resources and processes are being applied to the work.  If you’re not paying attention to how the work is getting done, how it’s landing with customers and partners, you’re not leading effectively.  You don’t have to micro-manage your people to ensure great execution – but you do have to get in the game with them and understand how works gets done.

Here’s a few simple execution questions to ask yourself if you’re leading a team:

Are you tracking key performance metrics, and do you use them to manage the work?

• Do you know what everyone does (really) - how everyone supports the mission?
• Are you setting clear goals and objectives for achieving results?
• Are you holding a high bar for performance? 
• Are you giving equal time to strategy, people, and operations?

The next time you think about leadership, take note of what pops into your mind.  Chances are, it’s one of the sexier competencies like vision, strategy or presence.  That’s fine, those are important – just don’t forget their lunch pail, sleeves-rolled-up colleague, execution – the leadership quality that makes everything else possible.