Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

Three of the ideas you’ll keep

The Clif summary of Execution pulls out 7 insights. Here are the first three.

1. Execution is a systematic discipline, not tactics beneath a leader's dignity, it is the leader's most important job, and it must be built into a company's strategy, goals, and culture, not delegated away.
2. Bossidy and Charan identify seven essential behaviors of an executing leader: know your people and business, insist on realism, set clear goals and priorities, follow through, reward the doers, expand people's capabilities through coaching, and know yourself.
3. The heart of execution is three core processes, people, strategy, and operations, and the leader's real job is to link them tightly so plans connect to who will run them and what resources exist.

The other 4 — and the full 11-minute summary — are in the app.

What’s inside: 8 chapters

The whole summary runs about 11 minutes, read or listened to.

1. The Gap Nobody Sees
2. The Leader Who Runs the Business
3. The Software of Execution: Culture and Beliefs
4. Emotional Fortitude
5. The People Process: More Important Than Strategy
6. The Strategy Process: A Plan People Can Execute
7. The Operations Process: Bridging Strategy and People
8. Weaving the Three Processes Together