It’s All In The Follow-through

This week’s reading comes from an interview Robert Mcgarvey had with Larry Bossidy that appeared in the July 2003 issue of the AmericanWay – “It’s All In The Follow-through” – about the time Bossidy’s book Execution was published.  Of particular attention is the sidebar at the very end of the piece.

Bossidy is the former chair of Honeywell International Inc. and before that second-in-command to Jack Welch at General Electric.  Most Leaders Program alumni know him from his book on “Execution:  The Discipline of Getting Things Done” (co-authored with Ram Charan an advisor to CEOs of Fortune 100 companies) which is referenced in the Results segment of the program.

In the book Bossidy and Charan list seven must-have behaviors for any leader who wants to focus on getting results:

1.  Know your people and your business;  get down to the nitty-gritty.

2.  Insist on realism;  delusions don’t produce results.

3.  Set clear goals and priorities.

4.  Follow through;  make follow-through a daily commitment.

5.  Reward the doers, those who deliver results.

6.  Expand people’s capabilities, everyone’s on the continuous improvement path, including you. 

7.  Know yourself.

The regime dictated by these seven must-have behaviors isn’t easy but it will help you lead you lead your organization to a practice of delivering results.  To start, pick one of the behaviors to work on until it becomes a practice and then move on to the next behavior.

Have a great week.  .  .  .     jim