Rating: 
Summary: Execution: The Discipline of Being Bored
Review: This book took about 8 hours to read, and 12 hours to write. It would have made a really good 500 word article in the Wall Street Journal, but there are only so many times one can repeat the same idea before boring your reader half to death.
Rating: 
Summary: best book I have ever read!
Review: This is an insightful, straight to the point and useful book. A must for managers and executives!
Rating: 
Summary: Gives a very good message & many of the answers
Review: As the book says "putting an execution culture in place is hard, but losing it is easy" - Bossidy put one in place at Honeywell and then retired in 1999. In 2001 they invited him back, because they'd lost it. I'd have liked to have understood more about what went wrong, and how to prevent a repetition.There's great emphasis on facing reality, setting clear goals, and dealing with underperformers - a good message. Under 'know your business' & Strategy Reviews, I didn't see any emphasis on another aspect of reality - 'marketing hype'. I was once presented with a Business Plan for a Canadian subsidiary that projected to achieve 35% market penetration in 3-5 years. Turns out the Marketing team hadn't studied the demographic realities of Canada, and had simply re-used some US Statistics, and arbitrarily adapted them. That was a strong lesson they learned from me, and I'd have been well pleased to see something similar in here.
Rating: 
Summary: Academic Attraction or Large Company/Consultants
Review: I think there are two ways to view this book. The people down in the trenches in the smaller businesses already are acutely aware that execution is important. Failure to execute the business plan and operations means that the payroll is not met and there will surely be irate telephone calls from customers or vendors or both - and quickly. So we (and I include myself) in the world of the smaller entrepreneur have less need for this book. Getting the orders and executing are what drives one to the office or plant every day, day in and day out. Priorities and plans are reviewed weekly and in some cases daily in a changing market. So for them they are not impressed with the book. One never hires anyone without doing it personally in smaller firms. Having said that one observes from the book and some of the reviews that many managers are involved more in planning and conceptual studies or finding great ideas and then matching those ideas to people and resources in their company. They spend a lot of time managing people and the whole strategic process. So I think the book is probably more suitable to a larger company or for consultants. I see some comparisons with the Collins book "Good to Great" which I think is just a so so book for people in smaller firms that are still trying to establish themselves or are in niche markets. Again I think that the book is ultimately geared for larger companies or consultants. So I think there will be two strong reactions to the book and the buyer must decide if they need more reminders and guidance for executing, while the smaller business person needs less of this type of book. Personally I still prefer to Read Jack Welch' s book "Straight from the Gut" since it has more examples with a good dose of color and excitement. Plus the Welch book communicates an energetic and dynamic personailty which is one reason why he was a success, if not the main reason. So I think just 3 or 4 stars. Jack in Toronto
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book. A must read for business leaders
Review: This book reminds the leaders of the corporate world a long forgotten truth about their job...the art of getting things done...and get them done right.
Rating:
Summary: Exulting the Execution. This is the bottom-line on this boo
Review: The book's primary focus is the importance of getting the right people in the right jobs to manage the three core business processes of people, strategy, and operations.
As a CEO, Larry Bossidy freely admits, "The leader's most important job is selecting and appraising people." With the right people in the right jobs, there's a gene pool of leadership that creates strategies that can be executed (when strategies are in sync with the realities of the marketplace, the economy, and the competition, they're much more likely to be executed and produce great results).
Bottom-line for this book: It will help crystallize and confirm many of the worries and suspicions you have in the back of your mind, and give you something to do about it. Definitely a book to have if you are in a leadership position. As a senior sales leader for a large pharmaceutical company, I have three personal favorites in my library: 1.) Good to Great by Jim Collins
2.) The Power of Habit by Jack D. Hodge
3.) The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick M. Lencioni Now I'm adding a fourth: Execution - The Discipline of Getting Things Done. Great book.
Rating:
Summary: Exe-what?
Review: Execution? How about duplication! This book builds itself as a discipline for getting things done. The leader's seven essential building blocks don't offer anything new or insightful. The idea that you and your organization will be able to better execute because of this book is a laugh. Bravo to the marketing genius that put this together!
Rating:
Summary: Old management style
Review: Great 1950's style management approach, but who cares about going back to the 1950's. A poor example of caring about others.
Rating:
Summary: A BOOK YOU MUST READ
Review: It is a common fallacy of business, especially big companies, that the management does those in-the-sky thingies like relationship management, strategy development, hobnobbing with the big tykes etc (depending on which industry the firm is in.) The reality is, most "leaders" think they don't have to roll up their sleeve and "execute". They believe their buck stops at "strategizing". At the end of the day, you bet on people, not on strategies. Strategies are intellectually simple; their execution is not simple. The question is, can you execute? That's what differentiates one company from another. I thought this book would be about doozy ideas rehashed to be a "business book". But I found the book a common sensical narrative of HOW the executives mentioned (from AT&T, GE, Colgate-Palmolive, J&J etc -- some more successful than others) actually managed their delivery and ascent. Brilliant book. Simply, fluently written. You can finish in the course of a laid-back Sunday afternoon lunch.
Rating:
Summary: A lot of good material, but hard to read
Review: This was a very good book. Having a perfect strategy gets you nowhere if you can't execute it. The authors go through why execution is so important and how to improve your execution. Concrete ideas in how to do strategy sessions and planning are included. There's a lot of material packed in, so I found it a difficult read. I'm glad I read it, but I'm also glad I'm done with it. I expect to get more out of it someday when I read it again. Don't expect to get through this book in less than 3 weeks. As good as it is, it's also very tiring to read.
| 
