Episode 636 · Aug 16, 2022

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

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George Wright III, host of The Daily Mastermind, dedicates this episode to a deep review of *Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done* by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. The book is a classic for business leaders who want to move beyond strategy and actually deliver results. George has returned to this book many times over the years, and in this episode he unpacks its core framework and the seven leadership behaviors he finds most powerful.

The central argument of *Execution* is simple: strategy without execution is just a plan. Bossidy and Charan argue that results require the right people, clear direction, and a culture of accountability. They offer a three-part framework built around setting clear goals, aligning people and resources to those goals, and holding people accountable for results.

How to Set Goals That Actually Drive Results

The authors advocate for SMART goals: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. That formula isn't new, but *Execution* insists you apply it at every level of an organization, from the company down to the individual. When everyone has targets that are concrete and trackable, progress becomes visible and accountability becomes possible.

Why Alignment Starts with Knowing Your People

You cannot delegate the job of understanding your team. Bossidy and Charan argue that leaders must personally assess each person's strengths and weaknesses, then assign tasks and roles accordingly. They also recommend creating accountability maps so that everyone in the organization knows exactly who is responsible for what. Without that clarity, execution stalls before it starts.

What Holding People Accountable Actually Requires

Accountability is essential for execution. The book suggests three practices: setting clear expectations up front, providing regular feedback, and using rewards and consequences appropriately. This connects directly to the scorecard and scoreboard approach George returns to often on The Daily Mastermind. If you're not measuring and tracking, you cannot hold anyone accountable.

The Seven Essential Behaviors of a Leader

The section George highlights most is the seven behaviors that make execution possible at the leadership level. Here they are in order:

1. Know the people and the business. You cannot execute on priorities you don't understand. A leader must know both the capabilities of the team and the realities of the business. 2. Insist on realism. Rather than shooting for the stars and ignoring problems, great leaders face the truth directly. That means addressing weaknesses and staying current with market trends. 3. Set clear goals and priorities. Complexity is the enemy of execution. Keep the direction simple, keep the priorities few, and communicate them clearly. 4. Follow through. Your actions speak far louder than your words. People follow a leader who consistently does what they say.

"It's important to follow through with what you say you're going to do."

5. Reward the doers. Recognize and reward execution when it happens, and do it at the right time. The goal of any organization is progress, and behavior that is rewarded is behavior that repeats. 6. Expand the capabilities of your people. Invest in developing the people around you. When people feel they are growing inside an organization, they bring more of themselves to the work. Expanding people expands your networks, relationships, and opportunities. 7. Know yourself. Leaders who understand their own strengths and weaknesses are more effective and more influential.

"You're much more influential and productive as a leader when you're aware of these talents that you have, but also your weaknesses that you have."

Action Steps

Apply the SMART framework to every goal you set this quarter, at both the team and individual level.
Map accountability across your organization: write down who is responsible for each key outcome and share it with the team.
Schedule a regular feedback conversation with each person you lead, not just annual reviews.
Identify one area where you have been avoiding the truth in your business or team, and address it directly this week.
Read or re-read *Execution* by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan, paying particular attention to the chapter on the seven essential behaviors of a leader.

Nothing matters more than execution. All the planning, goal-setting, and organizing in the world produces nothing without follow-through. Results happen through people who are clear, aligned, and accountable. It's never too late to start living the life you were meant to live.

READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPT

All right, welcome back to the Daily Mastermind. George Wright III here with your daily dose of inspiration, motivation, and education. And today I want to start you out with the Daily Mastermind quote of the day. I hope you're having a great week. We're going to do a book review today. I want to be able to go through some ideas and a great book that I've been reading. But the quote of the day today is, if you don't have the Daily Mastermind mobile app already, I encourage you to load that up. It's free in the Apple Store or the Android Marketplace. And the quote's really simple. It's just, seek and ye shall find. Seek and ye shall find. I tell you what, sometimes the answers to the biggest problems that we have elude us, and yet they're just there if you'll simply look for the answers. Now, today I want to jump right into it, because what I want to do is I want to talk to you about a book called Execution. Now, you may or may not have read this. It's by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charon. And it's a great book. It's kind of a classic that I've read many, many times over the years. And I love the name because it's simple. It just says Execution. And in Execution, it's called The Discipline of Getting Things Done. Larry and Ram provide a framework for business leaders to achieve results. You know, they argue that execution is not just about having a good strategy, but also about having the right people in place and creating an environment where they can be successful. And so the authors in this book offer a three-part framework of education, which includes setting clear goals, aligning people and resources behind those goals, and then holding people accountable for results. And that's really, really critical. But they do provide a lot of tools and techniques for each of these components. So let's talk about a couple of them, and then I want to break down one of my favorite parts of the book. Goal setting, the author suggests that your goals need to be SMART. Now SMART is an acronym for specific measurable achievable relevant and time bound They also recommend setting goals at multiple levels from the overall company all the way down to the individual And so when you set smart goals and it so critical that they specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, then you're going to be far more productive. They also talk about aligning people and resources. Now the authors argue that alignment starts with understanding what each person's strengths and weaknesses are. And you can't delegate that. That's something that a leader in the organization has to be able to take on themselves, finding the right people for the right jobs. And once it's clear and you understand the people's strengths and weaknesses, leaders can assign tasks and roles accordingly. And then you're going to be much more productive. They recommend creating accountability maps that make sure that everyone understands who is responsible for what. And this kind of goes back to the idea we've talked about with scorecards and scoreboards, because if you're not tracking that, then it's hard to hold people accountable. And that leads us to kind of that third area. They talk about holding people accountable. You know, the authors say basically accountability, which I believe, and I know you know this, is essential for execution. And to hold people accountable, they suggest setting these clear expectations, providing regular feedback, and then using rewards and punishments appropriately. And this book has got so much information. Obviously, we can't cover it all in a simple podcast, but I wanted to be able to highlight one of my favorite parts of the book, and that is the fact that major, major success or execution that comes in an organization comes from leadership. And leadership becomes that basic fundamental building block of any good execution. So they outline these, and I encourage you to really read through this chapter very, very carefully, but they outline the seven essential behaviors of a leader. Seven essential behaviors of a leader. And I'm going to kind of take you through each of those, give you a couple of thoughts on it. But the first essential behavior of a leader is that they know the people and the business. Now that sounds simple but understanding your people and business is critical to truly executing on the priorities in your business If you don understand the strengths and weaknesses of your people or the clear abilities that your business has to execute then it going to be very difficult for you. So a leader has got to understand the people in the business. Second, a leader has got to insist on realism. Realism. Now you don't hear this a lot because in Hustle and Grind we talk about just shooting for the stars, right? But rather than avoiding the truth, a great leader needs to embrace the truth. When you embrace reality, then you can be much more effective on executing. And so this requires a leader to identify and deal with what the weaknesses are, not just doubling down the strengths. And knowing the current marketplace is also super important. If you ignore the trends of the market, then you're not going to be able to execute. The third essential behavior of a leader is setting clear goals and priorities. And people in organizations can't execute if the direction of the company isn't clear. And so it's very important not to overcomplicate things with too many goals and priorities and make sure that the communication is super clear inside your organization. The fourth behavior that they suggest for leaders is, and you've heard this phrase, the fortune is in the follow-up. But leadership also absolutely requires you to follow through. So it's this characteristic of following through that's so important. Being someone that always does what you say and says what you mean, right? It means that people are going to believe you and take you serious. And your actions are going to speak far, far more louder than your words. And so it's important to follow through with what you say you're going to do. The fifth behavior leader has to have is the ability to reward the doers, the people that are getting things done. And the goal of this, obviously, or any organization, is to drive progress and execution, right? So it's important to reward the behavior when people do execute. And it's important to reward it at that right time. So rewarding the doers is the fifth essential ingredient of a leader Sixth is expanding the capabilities of an organization or its people and that is a super important thing See, a lot of people try to hire at their level. They don't try to hire up, but more importantly, they worry about developing people they work with because they're afraid or they're not confident. It's important for people to feel like they're growing inside of a corporation or a business. Plus, when you develop and expand, people, you're going to expand your relationships, your networks, your opportunities. And that's so important to be able to invest in growing people. And then seventh, the final characteristic of a leader that they talk about in the book is that leaders know themselves and their capabilities. They know their strengths. They know their weaknesses. Accepting and acknowledging your own weaknesses and working to improve these is a great trait of a leader. But you're much more influential and productive as a leader when you're aware of these talents that you have, but also your weaknesses that you have. And so I think this is a great section of the book. I think there's a lot of other things that I could highlight, but I want to encourage you to go through it because at the end of the day, nothing matters more than execution. Results aren't going to happen with execution. All of your goals and priorities and planning and organizing isn't going to help unless you execute. So execution is going to be the key. This is a great book. Once again, it's execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charon. And I think that what you'll find is that this is a book that you can kind of go back to over and over. So that's my message for today. I hope that book summary kind of gives you a little bit of extra edge strategies, things that you can do as a leader in an organization. And then I encourage you to hit me up on the Daily Mastermind on Facebook or Instagram and let me know what you're working on. Let me know what you're struggling with. I'm here to help you every day we want to work on more inspiration, motivation, education to take you to the best version of yourself. So look forward to talking with you there and do me a favor, share this episode with somebody that you feel will benefit. And I look forward to talking with you more tomorrow. My name is George Wright III and this has been The Daily Mastermind.

About the host

George Wright III

George Wright III is an entrepreneur, investor, and the host of The Daily Mastermind. Over more than two decades he has founded and scaled several multimillion-dollar companies and built a renowned seminar business that put some of the world's biggest names and brands on stage. With 25+ years across marketing, sales, and executive leadership, he's made a career of turning bold ideas into results — and momentum into lasting growth.

Today his mission is singular: empower driven entrepreneurs everywhere to master their mindset, unlock their potential, and live their ultimate destiny. Through The Daily Mastermind, George shares the Prosperity Principles and strategies that help people create massive change — in their business and in their life.

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