Six Disciplines® Execution Revolution: Solving the One Business Problem That Makes Solving All Other Problems Easier

"After many years, I've finally come 2 view excellence as the enduring pursuit of balanced strategy & execution."

Content

Chapter 1: Business Excellence; the author exhibits a fairly nice model of business excellence balancing Strategy & Execution.

Chapter 2: The Biggest Problem in Business; author wrote, with some supporting information, that execution is the biggest problem.

Chapter 3: Why Is It So Difficult?; "Usually, it's easier not 2 do what we know we should" sums up the chapter.

Chapter 4: The Leapfrog Opportunity; you'll have the leapfrog opportunity if you invest in quality programs, business process best practices, personal productivity tools, business intelligence, strategy formulation, virtual community development, & coaching.

Chapter 5: Requirements 4 a Next-Generation Program

Chapter 6: The First Complete Strategy Execution; the authors state that the complete strategy execution requires the following four chapters (which are self-explanatory; & the rest are also self-explanatory)

Chapter 7: A Repeatable Methodology

Chapter 8: Accountability Coaching

Chapter 9: An Execution System

Chapter10: Community Learning

Chapter11: Making Solving All Other Problems Easier

Chapter12: An Enduring Pursuit

Read the chapter titles & you'll figure out what the book is about & that's it, that's all you need 2 know. If you insist, read the summaries in your favourite bookstore 4 5-10 minutes & you'll understand everything.

I'll compare Six Disciplines Execution Revolution 2 the ideal "A business book that is easy 2 understand, distinct, credible, practical, insightful, & provides great reading experience."

Ease of Understanding: 7/10; the book is easy 2 understand, far too easy 2 understand because the concept is obvious, very obvious.

Distinction: 2/10; You have seen it all; there is absolutely nothing new in the book. 1 point 2 the Excellence Business Model in the back cover, you might think that it is not new! Yes, that's as far as distinction goes. The other point is from a paragraph about the character in the Bible.

Credibility: 4/10; I truly respect Gary Harpst 4 his successes but in this book, despite implementing 60,000 business management systems & with more than $20 million bucks & 100 man-years of research, I don't see one good example of success stories of his clients, there should be one, out of 60,000, there really should be any example of success that is relevant 2 the context. There are some stories about Solomon Software, the author's successful company. We need more; this book seems like hot air 2 me.

Practicality: 3/10; This is a book about "whats" not about "hows". The author stated the obvious goals but not a single useful method; I might exaggerate here but in Chapter11, just skip the first ten on how, the author wrote "we'll detail the how of this last point" but no, still no how.

Insight: 5/10; With too many issues 2 cover; Six Disciplines Execution Revolution failed 2 deliver insightful & thoughtful details or analysis of any specific issue. The author should focus on a specific issue rather than a small book 4 everything.

Reading Experience: 3/10: I felt like sitting in a university lecture, in modules like Management 101, & this book does not go beyond 101 class. I felt like taking a nap & having some snacks during the class waiting 4 it 2 end & go elsewhere.

Overall: 4/10; I'm not going 2 say this book is bad but it is far from ideal; it might be a good introduction 2 business & management practice. It might be a good idea 2 buy this book 4 your friend who does not normally read business books.

How does one make their particular business excel past all their competitors? "Six Disciplines Execution Revolution: Solving the One Business Problem That Makes Solving All Other Problems Easier" is a thoroughly 'user friendly' & practical guide 2 help business owners answer that very question. Promoting 'The Excellence Business Model', which pushes balanced strategy & execution, successful entrepreneur & author Gary Harpst helps new business owners deal with anticipated & unexpected challenges as they occur & how they 2 avoid failure before such difficulties become an insurmountable problem. "Six Disciplines Execution Revolution" is a excellent pick 4 anyone looking 2 make their business venture an enduring success.

The principles 4 success in business are not unlike the principles that support & create success in many of life's endeavors. What Gary Harpst has tapped into, & what makes this book & the ideas behind it so unique, in comparison 2 others like it, is the bringing of a real world, dynamic involvment in everything that works its way toward effective strategy & "execution".

I have told people that the closest analogy I can come up with, 2 sum up my experience with Six Disciplines, is 2 reference a comparison of Bruce Lee 2 a classical Karate instructor. -- Where the Karate instructor would measure his talent by his ability 2 perform & display increasingly complex & difficult techniques, Bruce Lee would excel at becoming amazingly effective in the very simplist & most direct of movements. Bruce Lee was all about stripping away what is useless & absorbing what is useful & so, it seems, is Six Disciplines. The magic formula 4 success in Lee's makeup was his unwavering commitment 2 striving 4 excellence in the simple things that many other's tend 2 shrug off & take 4 granted as they search 4 the pursuit of excellence in complexity. That & Lee was a superb example of success through well balanced strategy & execution.

There's a vast amount of knowledge behind the scenes in this book & the good part is that Gary Harpst has managed 2 harvest the fruits of so much labor 4 all of us 2 benefit from, & in a way that can transform "pretty good" into "Great!"

With our struggling economy, the crisis with rising prices in energy & the continual, increasing rise in food prices, a large percentage of American businesses are struggling. The timing of this book could not have been better.

This book details a strategy execution program 4 your organization. The guides in this book with will assist any manager at any level with moving into a proactive stance rather than reactive. Surprises - some small, some business killers - are around every turn. This book deals with these issues head on in an open & honest way.

The field testing that was performed along with the best practices of know organizations takes a lot of pressure off 4 those who wish 2 pursue the advice in this wonderful new book. I can assure you that you will not have buyer's remorse. Buy copies 4 all of your managers & leaders. Michael L. Gooch, SPHR Author ofWingtips with Spurs

In my book, Mastering The Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies 4 Leading Your Business or Non-profit, I urge leaders & managers 2 "Avoid Management-by-Bestseller Syndrome." That's why this book gets my high-five rating. It fits with my Management Buckets system--and it's all about execution. As Peter Drucker said, "Vision without execution is delusion." Plus, the author's recommended books (in the resource section) give you a synergistic context. The book won't take you off-course. It's a complementary tool 2 help you walk the next steps.

"The first premise of this book is that what most business leaders think is their greatest challenge really isn't," says Harpst, who implemented more than 60,000 business management systems. "In most of my 20-year tenure as CEO of Solomon Software, I was in react mode, moving from one crisis 2 the next." So he makes the analysis simple with four quadrants focused on strong or weak strategy, coupled with strong or weak execution. The four quadrants: 1) growth wave, 2) fire-fighting, 3) profit wave, & 4) balanced & predictable.

It's all about getting 2 his quadrant of excellence: balanced & predictable. "This sounds easy," he writes, "but most organizations don't have the framework, the will, or the persistence 2 make the hard choices it requires." He adds, "Sustainable excellence isn't possible unless an organization learns 2 systemically increase its capability 2 execute, & 2 do so faster than the rate at which its challenges are growing. It's ironic that the better an organization executes today, the bigger its challenges will be tomorrow." (Been there, done that, right?)

I appreciate his comment that excellence is "the enduring pursuit of balanced strategy & execution." Harpst also reminds us that excellence is the "journey that never ends." I agree.

With all of the pressures successful business leaders have today, none is more urgent or challenging than learning the ability 2 execute strategy.

While larger businesses have the luxury of budgets & resources 2 meet this challenge, it's the small & midsized businesses that now have a tremendous opportunity 2 level the playing field, leapfrog the expensive, outdated approaches of the past, & attack the challenge of execution in a revolutionary way. The key insights are:

• Excellence is the enduring pursuit of balanced strategy & execution
• Planning & executing, while at the same time dealing with the inevitable surprises, is the biggest challenge in business
• Overcoming this challenge is what we mean by solving the one problem that makes all others easier
• Failing 2 solve the problem destines your organization 2 a reactive, fire-fighting future.

Based on breakthrough research, field testing & proven best-practices, the thought-leading vision described by Gary Harpst in Six Disciplines® Execution Revolution sets a new course 4 how small & midsized businesses can finally confront the never-ending challenge of executing strategy.

As a follow-up 2 the success of Six Disciplines 4 Excellence, Harpst's new book, Six Disciplines® Execution Revolution, details the elements of a complete strategy execution program, clarifies how it could only have happened now, & explains why such a program will soon become a mainstream requirement 4 your business.