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Execution – Outline Part II

Here’s part two of my review of Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan:
 
II.  Part II – The Building Blocks of Execution
A.  Chapter 3 – Building Block One:  The Leader’s Seven Essential Behaviors
1.  “Know your people and your business.”
2.  “Insist on realism.”  “Embracing realism means always taking a realistic view of your company and comparing it with other companies.”
3.  “Set clear goals and priorities.”  “Leaders who execute focus on a very few clear priorities that everyone can grasp.”
4.  “Follow through.”
5.  “Reward the doers.”  “You have to make it clear to everybody that rewards and respect are based on performance.”
6.  “Expand people’s capabilities through coaching.”  “One of the most important parts of your job is passing it on to the next generation of leaders.”  “Good leaders regard every encounter as an opportunity to coach.”
7.  “Know yourself.”  “Good leaders learn their specific personal strengths and weaknesses, especially in dealing with other people, then build on the strengths and correct the weaknesses.”
a.  Four core qualities that make up emotional fortitude:
i.  authenticity
ii.  self-awareness
iii.  self-mastery
iv.  humility
Jon’s comments:  It all starts with the leader.  This chapter provides valuable encouragement to any leader.  I especially appreciated that the authors offer hope to leaders who make mistakes.  We can all learn from our experiences – successes and failures.  What we do with what we learn is key.
 
B.  Chapter 4 – Building Block Two:  Creating the Framework for Cultural Change
1.  “To change a business’s culture, you need a set of processes – social operating mechanisms – that will change the beliefs and behavior of people in ways that are directly linked to bottom-line results.”
2.  “The foundation of changing behavior is linking rewards to performance and making the linkages transparent.  If a company rewards and promotes people for execution, its culture will change.”
3.  “You should reward not just strong achievements on numbers but also the desirable behaviors that people actually adopt.”
4.  “You cannot have an execution culture without robust dialogue – one that brings reality to the surface through openness, candor and informality.  Robust dialogue makes an organization effective in gathering information, understanding the information, and reshaping it to produce decisions.”
Jon’s comments:  Who and what is your organization?  Figure it out through discussion.  Go after it.  Reward people for it.
 
C.  Chapter 5 – Building Block Three:  The Job No Leader Should Delegate – Having the Right People in the Right Place
1.  “An organization’s human beings are its most reliable resource for generating excellent results year after year.  Their judgments, experiences, and capabilities make the difference between success and failure.”
2.  “To consistently improve its leadership gene pool, every business needs a discipline that is embedded in the people process, with candid dialogues about the matches between people and jobs, and follow-through that ensures people take the appropriate actions.”
3.  “If you want to build a company that has excellent discipline of execution, you have to select the doer.”
4.  “Getting things done through others is a fundamental leadership skill.”
5.  “You can’t spend too much time on obtaining and developing the best people.”
6.  “If you sit down with your boss and your boss hasn’t said something to you about your weaknesses, go back!  Because otherwise you’re not going to learn anything.”
Jon’s comments:  You can’t put a square peg in a round hole (and vice versa).  As leaders, we need to be extremely diligent in finding the right people and putting them in the right place.
 
Until the next post…

Virgil’s Micro Brewed Root Beer, Etc…

Without question, one of my favorite times of the year is Memorial Day weekend. Every year since I started college (except for one year – which is another story), I have ventured up to the Poconos with some of my closest friends who are originally from the Mount Holly, NJ area. The weekend has really become a retreat and fountain of youth for most of us. I could go on for a long time about this event.

At any rate, one of our many traditions is the naming of the Virgil. This is the name we give to the newest guy on the trip. Last year, Tom Nesspor was the Virgil. And John Kosydar is the Virgil every year he comes up. In a way, we consider it an honor to be part of this trip, so the Virgil title is not really as bad as it might sound. Well, today at the end of my saxophone lesson, I stumbled across a beverage that pays tribute to our tradition – Virgil’s Root Beer. You can also get other flavors like Cream Soda and Black Cherry Cream Soda. I couldn’t resist putting their website up on my blog for all my camping buddies to enjoy.

Until the next post, “you’ll swear it’s made in heaven”…

Proud Parent

On Saturday, I took a break midway through my painting project to head to the YMCA for Isaac’s basketball game.  Here’s a little history on Isaac’s team:  They lost their first five games.  They tied the next three games.  So heading into Saturday’s game, they hadn’t won a game yet (although, the last few games have been extremely exciting).  We all wanted to see our kids win at least one game this year, and we were quickly running out of time as the season ends this coming Saturday.
 
Here’s a recap of the game.  Isaac sat out during the first quarter of the game.  At the end of the first quarter, the other team was winning 2 to 0 (what a defensive struggle).  Isaac entered the game as the defensive center; by the end of the half, the score had ballooned to 4 to 2 in favor of the other team.  Isaac continued to play the rest of the game at center.  Towards the end of the third quarter, Isaac had hit a long basket (from around the free throw line) to make it 6 to 4 or 6 to 6.  The parents were all beginning to wonder if this game would finish in a similar fashion to our first eight games.  We were in for a surprise.  Suddenly, our team (the Jazz) came alive.  Isaac hit three or four more shots from “way outside,” and another kid hit a lay-up.  When the final buzzer went off, the Jazz prevailed 14 to 6.  This may not sound all that exciting, but I can assure you that this was won of the most exciting basketball games I have ever attended.
 
This week, we finish off the season against the only undefeated team in the league.  While that seems a bit scary, I think our team is up for the challenge.
 
Until the next post, come fly with me…

2008 – Week 6 Exercise Recap

Here’s my recap from last week.  While it was the same mileage as the previous week, I was certainly a building week.  This week included my longest run so far this year and my first two-a-day.  Here are the details:
 
Sunday 2/3 – 9.0 miles (on the muddy Perkiomen Trail)
Monday 2/5 – 6.0 miles
Tuesday 2/6 AM – 7.6 miles
Tuesday 2/6 PM – 2.4 miles
Thursday 2/7 – 7.0 miles
 
Total for the week – 32 miles (Total for the year – 160.5 miles)
 
I was hoping to get a few miles in on Saturday, but I spent the day painting instead.  I got a good ladder workout.
 
Until the next post…

Good to Great

Today, I had my company’s annual kickoff meeting at Harrah’s Chester Casino and Racetrack. There were several positive messages from the day. All these messages seemed to point to the same thing – go the extra degree, go the extra mile, stretch a little more. We had a very good year as a district, but we have been encouraged and challenged to go from Good to Great. Here’s a video that was shown at our meeting that presses the point.

Until the next post, consider what is takes in your own life to go the extra degree…

Ratatouille

Isaac and I went to see Ratatouille this afternoon. Disney and Pixar are unbelievable with their ability to make animation seem so real. We both liked the movie. I especially enjoyed the animated scenes of Paris.

The movie brought out some interesting themes. One of the primary themes emphasized that you can do anything you want to do. Remy, the star rat in the movie, longs to eat and cook the delicacies of France. He is inspired by a late hailed French chef who wrote a cookbook called “Anyone Can Cook.” (Now that’s a cookbook for me.) Disney does a great job demonstrating the power of positive thinking.

See the link below to enjoy some of the movie.

Until the next post…

Hersheypark

Yesterday, I took Isaac to Hersheypark for the day together. We had a great time just the two of us. According to Map My Run, we walked about 4.23 miles – see the map above. We got to see three shows including the 3-D show which Isaac really enjoyed. Isaac tried out two new rides (with me) – the Tidal Force and the Roller Soaker. Isaac also tried out a few parts of the new Boardwalk water part of the park that was added over the winter. They did a great job with this whole area which includes several cool water slides, a few different water playgrounds, and a cool boogie boarding surf area.

Here are a couple of the tips that have made our trips in the past a real fun time:

1. If you’re planning on getting wet, get there right at the opening and go for the water stuff first. We went on Canyon River Rapids, Tidal Force, and Roller Soaker without any wait. Later in the day, the lines for these rides were huge.

2. Now your show times and use the shows for entertainment and downtime. We have especially enjoyed the shows at the Aquatheater.

3. Food is expensive in the park, so eat a good breakfast before you arrive. We have discovered that Subway in the park is one of the most reasonable places to eat.

4. Save time for Chocolate World. We have hit this free ride at the end of our day every time we’ve gone to Hershey. The best part is that it ends with a free Hershey’s chocolate treat. Chocolate World is actually located just outside of Hersheypark. It is open year round, so if you’re just passing through, it’s worth a quick visit.

It was a SWEET day with my son.

Until the next post…
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