Charan’s classic obvious in-your-face-and-yet-you-missed-it observations on business life and performance have both delighted and illuminated me over the years. Who’s Larry Bossidy? Chairman and CEO of Honeywell International, Inc – credited with the spectacular transformation of AlliedSignal and ex-GE. Jack Welch had endorsed Execution with this accolade … “A great practitioner and an insightful theorist join forces to write a compelling business story of ‘how to get it done”. A quick glance down the contents page and a random sneak preview of the printed words convinced me to part with the book price and filled me with a sense of impatience to find time to read the book through. My frequent nodding through the book was definitely not a sign of fatigue or sleep deprivation. I was mesmerised!

The essence of the book is eloquently summarised in the Dear Jane letter at the end of the book. In it, Bossidy and Charan start off by telling Jane, who is taking on a new leadership role, to engage in critical assessment of her personal role fit, team strengths, and the organisation’s state of affairs, and to work hard to close the gaps. Jane is advised to channel time and energy on building an execution culture, combining laser sharp focus on getting to the end-goals with persistent follow-through and good stewardship of the organisation’s best assets – its people. Rigorous and passionate attention to personally leading the three core processes (people, strategy and operations) should be top priority.

Jane needs to take charge of recruitment and appraisal, ensuring that the best person's in each job. Performance will depend on clarity of role and expected outcomes, commitment to delivery, honest performance reviews, measure for measure reward and relentless follow-through. She will find that a well-informed realistic strategy which encourages constructive debate and deploys resources in direct proportion to opportunities is indispensable for long term robustness. Her annual budget and action plans form the ‘template for achievement’ within a timeframe, synchronising all the parts of the organisation and linking them with the strategy and people processes, acting both as tools and barometers of operational efficiencies.

Above all, Jane’s passion and humility matter. Her level of intensity and focus on understanding customers and continual quest for better results plus her intellectual honesty will determine how successfully the organisation delivers on its promises. She needs courage and emotional fortitude to make the tough decisions. Instead of taking herself too seriously, Jane might benefit from personal feedback and coaching to continually grow and learn.

Execution is an indictment against leaders who do not connect between the concept and the critical details of implementation. The authors tell story after story of enthusiastic but guileless chief executives who drag rather than lead their organisations through struggles toward eventual downfall. They have failed to master the basic foundational processes of people, strategy and operations that link vision to results. Sounds cliché? This is precisely the point of the book. It seems almost common sense that all businesses would have some form of strategy, people process and operations.

Bossidy and Charan assert that there is a gap that no one knows and therefore do nothing about, that determines if a business expands and prospers or works itself into oblivion. This gap can be filled by execution, the discipline of getting things done. It necessitates intense almost manic obsession for clarity and commitment to detail, process and follow-through coupled with placing people first and realism and thoroughness in business strategy. The ivory tower is a myth. Leaders need to be fully hands-on. They ought to know their business better than anyone else in order to ask the right powerful questions that steer and inspire employees to give their all to deliver precise execution. The aim is seamless performance that fulfils promises and delivers results. The magic is in the virtuoso direction of the people (organisational capabilities), strategy (bringing concept to reality) and operations (process, action and behaviors) parts, bringing them to play in perfect symphony. Execution comes from instilling a discipline of specific behaviors and techniques directed to obtain desired outcomes unfailingly.

Written in an easy narrative style, Execution makes for deceptively light reading and yet leaves the reader with a deep sense of urgency to do the right thing. It does exactly what it prescribes – getting the authors’ message to leaders out in a deliberate manner. The book is set out in three sections. The first section tells us why execution matters. The next section describes the building blocks of execution namely, the essential behaviors of the leader and his personal priorities, the framework required for cultural change, and the all-important not-to-be-delegated selection and appraisal function of the leader. Finally, the third section dwells on the how-to of each of the three core processes – people, strategy, and operations – in great detail and clarity.

Every leader and leader-in-waiting should read Execution by Bossidy and Charan. The authors have masterfully presented a powerful omnipotent message with simplicity and clarity. The reader is at once drawn by the magnetism of the authors’ laser sharp observations, practical suggestions and emphasis on commitment to outcomes. Anecdotes and the narrative style of writing carry the reader effortlessly through the book.

Execution is a book that is best read to capture the essence of the message and then kept as a handy reference and reminder for its ageless wisdom. Definitely worth the price of the book at less than 25 sen a day over a year!

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Review by Sulynn Choong. Sulynn is a Positive Change Consultant/Coach with Human Capital Perspectives and the Founder/Chief Engagement Officer at the Asian Center for Applied Positive Psychology (ACAPP).