“EXECUTION is the missing link between aspirations and results.”
Bossidy and Charan
Every record has that one or two tracks that are so much more than the rest.
Every poet has a few poems (i.e. The Road Not Taken) that stand head and shoulders above the rest.
Even harmony has its conversations that are so much richer and more powerful than the rest.
I am hoping that this conversation today is one of them.
As I have been growing and evolving as a professional and a human being, my focus has shifted…
First, my fascination was with CULTURE…
How do you make what you stand for, more explicit, more engaging, clearer, more compelling? How do you make culture a powerful asset in who you are and in your company? I spent a lot of time. How do you get your mind right, and then, how do you help those you care about, and those you work with, get their mind right? I read and read. I tried many things. And, I got much better at it. Bottom line, it all happens in the moment, and you need make it happen there
And, then I moved on… to my fascination with STRATEGY…
Culture without strategy is pointless. How do I create great strategy? How do I differentiate myself and my company in a meaningful way? And, how do I engage everyone in the company in the right way on a common and powerful strategy? I read and read. I tried many things. And, we got much better at it. Bottom line, great strategy requires relevant and unique differentiation.
And, then I moved on… to my fascination with EXECUTION…
Execution is a lot less “sexy” than culture or strategy. But, at the end of the day, if you have your mind right and you are able to set a great differentiating strategy… it all comes down to YOUR ABILITY to make that strategy COME TO LIFE.
Why is it so hard for companies to achieve greatness? Why is it such few that do achieve greatness over time?
Why is it so hard for people to achieve success and happeiness? Why is it such few that do achieve true happiness over time?
I am always fascinated by how similar the winning formulas that help us succeed in business and in life. I am so very fascinated and energized by the fact that ONCE YOU FIND THE ANSWERS, THEY APPLY TO ALL ASPECTS OF LIFE!
So… what is the MISSING LINK?
I have been working deeper in one of our divisions, and despite the additional work, I love being deeper in the work.
I started reading a book that I bought a while ago, “EXECUTION: The Discipline of Getting Things Done” written by Bossidy and Charan.
I am halfway through the book, but I already know, it’s going to be one of those pillars that hold up my castle.
My stool has three legs now…
CULTURE
STRATEGY
And
EXECUTION
What thrills me, is that I read this book and embrace the material… the power of HARMONY comes through LOUD and CLEAR.
Execution, they argue, is the missing link.
“The gap nobody knows is the gap between what a company’s leaders want to achieve and the ability of their organization to achieve it.
Unless you translate your big thoughts into concrete steps for action, they’re pointless.”
The gap that we have in our lives is the gap between the life we want to live AND our ability to achieve it, no?
Then the next sentence says essentially, it ONLY happens in the moment!
If you can’t “translate” the happiness you want to achieve into “concrete steps for action”… into behaviors in the moment… you are unable to achieve it.
In the book, OVER and OVER again, they speak about the CRITICALITY of understanding the TRUTH. THE IS… of the moment…
OVER
And
OVER
“INSIST ON REALISM:
It is far more important to maintain your credibility as a leader by being relentlessly realistic rather than trying to gloss over problems.”
First and foremost, you MUST insist on the TRUTH!
“All too often the wrong goals are set because the leader isn’t realistic about the ability of the people to achieve them.
Articulating the right goals is the first step.”
Understanding your “IS” includes importantly, your current ability to ACHIEVE the reality that you want. SO OFTEN I see us fail because we want to achieve as a first step a reality that we do not have the maturity or the systems to execute.
You need to build on the truth of the moment, and then as you get stronger, you can reach for bigger WANTS.
“The main requirement is that you as a leader have to be deeply and passionately engaged in your organization and honest about its realities with others and yourself.”
“KNOW YOURSELF
You have to rely on yourself to contain your own ego and recognize your inevitable blind spots. Be particularly cautious about losing your ability to listen.
Above all, you need to be able to recognize when you’re part of the problem.”
You are part of the IS, part of the truth. You must force yourself to SEE the TRUTH, and keep yourself from distorting it based on your preconceptions and bias.
“Too many leaders fool themselves into thinking their companies are well run.
Most often today the difference between a company and its competitor is the ability to execute.
EXECUTION is THE great unaddressed issue in the business world today. It’s absence is the single biggest obstacle to success and the cause of most of the disappointments that are mistakenly attributed to other causes.”
Fooling yourself about the truth… is wishing. When we WISH something was true that isn’t, we convince ourselves to believe in what is not true.
Our ability to ACHIEVE is based on our ability to ASSESS THE IS and stay away from WISHING, sound familiar?
And, then, to ARTICULATE THE RIGHT GOALS… OR, articulate the WANT!!! Sound familiar?
And, we must do it in “concrete and actionable steps”… or MOMENTS!
“Here is the fundamental problem: People think of execution as the tactical side of business, something leaders delegate while they focus on the perceived “bigger” issues.
This idea is completely wrong.”
The “fundamental problem” why we don’t achieve happiness is because we underestimate the importance of the simple moment. We get lost thinking of happiness in bigger terms… failing to define happiness and how we make it happen and feel it in the moment is “completely wrong”.
I love this line from the book…
“Execution is a systematic way of exposing reality and acting on it.
Most companies don’t face reality very well.
As we shall see, that is the basic reason they can’t execute.”
A SYSTEMATIC WAY OF EXPOSING REALITY AND ACTING ON IT
Harmony is achieved by finding the absolute truth, the IS of every moment, and in each moment working to move YOUR truth toward your WANT…
Do YOU SEE the parallel’s or are the computer fumes starting to affect my brain?
Then they go on to explain,
“What most people miss today is that intellectual challenge ALSO includes the rigorous and tenacious work of developing and PROVING the ideas.
The intellectual challenge of execution is getting to the heart of an issue through persistent and constructive probing.”
To achieve HAPPINESS and SUCCESS… to achieve HARMONY…
You need the “rigorous and tenacious work of PROVING the ideas.”
Anything worthwhile is not conceived as an idea… it is conceived through EFFORT, through RIGOR, through “GRIT”…
We talk about happiness…
I talk about HARMONY…
And, we are all into the IDEA of a great life. We are all into the idea of a happy and successful LIFE.
But how many people are committed to digging relentlessly to understand the REALITY of our situation? How many people are committed to PROVING the idea, to WORKING the concrete actions, day after day… moment after moment?
“Without the ability to execute, all other attributes of leadership become hollow.”
Without the ability to execute… all attributes of a successful life become hollow…
It’s all about EXECUTION…
If it was easy, everyone would do it.
If it was as easy as knowing the answer, we would all be BILL GATES…
“Knowledge without courage is ineffective.” Bossidy and Charam say…
Most of us “KNOW” the formula… but how many have the COURAGE to LIVE IT? … to TRULY acknowledge our truth… and then work from there?
How many of us have the STAMINA to work on it moment after moment for a lifetime?
In today’s world, we want for more than ever, but we are led to believe by the collective voice of the world today that it’s supposed to be easy. That WANTING a great life is almost enough to achieve it…
I love this book that I am reading, because it is so very real. It is written by proven business leaders and in sharing their wisdom I am emboldened to the power of HARMONY.
They conclude in the introduction…
“There are several characteristics that will differentiate good leaders going forward.
- Commanding knowledge of the world around them.
- They will never stop learning.
- Extremely flexible and quick to adapt to changing conditions.
- But most important, they will lead in a positive and uplifting way that gives confidence to those who follow.”
The book highlights the importance of QUESTIONS…
"Use your knowledge to constantly PROBE and QUESTION. Bring weaknesses to light AND rally people (including yourself) to correct them."
PROBING situations to TRULY understand the reality to be able to resolve it.
EXECUTION: The Discipline of Getting Things Done…
HARMONY: The Discipline of A Happy and Successful Life…
The concept of harmony is not mine, it’s the universal common denominator of wisdom…
The laws of success and happiness haven’t changed…
The TRUTH is the TRUTH!
"Failure drains energy from your organization, repeated failure destroys it."
Harmony begets harmony AND disharmony begets disharmony.
Our expectations have grown.
Our patience has shrunk.
But, our ability to learn remains…
Listen carefully to the voices of those who have achieved great success and happiness,
AND THOSE THAT HAVEN’T…
And, if you listen very closely… you will hear the very same message stated over and over… in different words.
OWN THEM…
Accept that we exist only in the moment.
Start every moment with the nucleus of harmony, the “IS” and the absolute truth.
Then define your WANT clearly…
Stay away from the WISH…
And, passionately do your best to move your IS into your WANT…
And, succeed or fail, in the next moment…
TRY AGAIN…
It’s a discipline.
It’s a lifestyle.
Keep asking the question.
Keep EXECUTING the answer.
Never stop learning.
Yours in the application of harmony,
Nesto