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Six Disciplines Execution Revolution: Solving the One Business Problem That Makes Solving All Other Problems Easier | 
 enlarge | Author: Gary Harpst
Publisher: Six Disciplines Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
Buy New: $5.48
You Save: $7.47 (58%)
New (24) Used (6) from $4.44
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 6
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0981641105
Dewey Decimal Number: 658
EAN: 9780981641102
ASIN: 0981641105
Publication Date: July 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New.
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Product Description
With all of the pressures successful business leaders have today, none is more urgent or challenging than learning the ability to execute strategy. While larger businesses have the luxury of budgets and resources to meet this challenge, it's the small and midsized businesses that now have a tremendous opportunity to level the playing field, leapfrog the expensive, outdated approaches of the past, and attack the challenge of execution in a revolutionary way. The key insights are: - Excellence is the enduring pursuit of balanced strategy and execution
- Planning and 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 to solve the problem destines your organization to a reactive, fire-fighting future.
Based on breakthrough research, field testing and proven best-practices, the thought-leading vision described by Gary Harpst in Six Disciplines Execution Revolution sets a new course for how small and midsized businesses can finally confront the never-ending challenge of executing strategy. As a follow-up to the success of Six Disciplines for 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, and explains why such a program will soon become a mainstream requirement for your business.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
The Persistence to Make the Hard Choices August 11, 2008
In my book, Mastering The Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Non-profit, I urge leaders and managers to "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 to 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 to 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, and 4) balanced and predictable.
It's all about getting to his quadrant of excellence: balanced and predictable. "This sounds easy," he writes, "but most organizations don't have the framework, the will, or the persistence to make the hard choices it requires." He adds, "Sustainable excellence isn't possible unless an organization learns to systemically increase its capability to execute, and to 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 and execution." Harpst also reminds us that excellence is the "journey that never ends." I agree.
Planning and Execution July 26, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
While the ultimate message put forth in this book is about executing your plans and how to go about that, it is very much based on what needs to be done first - and that is Planning, Goal-Setting. Without this foundation in place first, any actions in business will be haphazard, directionless and misguided.
Six Principles Execution Revolution is an excellent business source that offers some unique insights into how to put your business goals into action. Having a plan is one thing. Being able to make it happen is something else altogether. This book helps you do that.
How To Keep Your Man: And Keep Him For Good
Real Life Dramas - Volume One
Darren G. Burton
Great Stories, But Be Careful July 15, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Harpst's great book should be tempered with book's like How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business and The Halo Effect: ... and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers. If we are careful to qualify how much can really be gathered even from a single person's "sample", even it it is the numerous experiences of someone like Gary Harpst, then we can learn a lot from his anecdotal evidence.
I would add methods Hubbard's How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business to address some issue that Harpst only alludes to - like how to tell what adds the most shareholder value or knowing if activities are leading toward successful execution. But, for what it is, it is probably the best manager's perspective on focusing on what matters for successful delivery.
Harpst's prose sometimes reminds me of half-time pep-talk springled with a lot of touchy-feely manager-speak. But there is no doubt his examples of "getting things done" are engaging. I might also suggest reading this alongside Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets just for a healthy dose of skepticism about management observations.
Execution Involves Every Person, Every Day July 8, 2008
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
In a format that's easy to read and follow, Six Disciplines Execution Revolution captivated me from beginning to end. The author, Gary Harpst, uses practical experiences and field research (not ivory-tower academic theory) to craft a complete program for strategy execution. This book is not just for senior leaders - it's for everyone, as everyone is responsible for executing plan, every day. Harpst eloquently confirmed what I've thought all along: Excellence is a journey that never ends. It's an enduring pursuit that requires an enduring approach. Strategy execution involves every person, every day. Execution Revolution reveals a new way to attack the biggest challenge in business (execution), and Harpst offers us a new way to approach this ongoing challenge."
Revolutionary advice June 30, 2008
10 out of 14 found this review helpful
This is a book designed to get your business to the next level. I loved this book, and I think the subtitle sums it up quite well: "Solving the one business problem that makes solving all other problems easier." What's the "one problem?" Execution.
Voice of experience
If you're unfamiliar with Gary, he was the founder of Solomon Accounting (very popular software back in the 80's and early 90's when the PC industry was very young). He grew his business form startup to achieve great success, finally selling the company to Great Plains Software (since purchased by Microsoft) for a hefty sum.
One of the things I love about Gary's methods and style is that he incorporates his own lessons learned, successes, and experiences into his books - and that makes his guidance seem much more actionable and achievable.
More than a memoir
Don't worry, though - this book is not about hyping up Gary's past. Instead, he presents stories we can learn from (like when he had to layoff half his company) and provides structure and techniques so other small-to-medium businesses (SMB's) can avoid some of the problems he encountered. The other thing I noticed very early in the book is that Gary uses tons of data to support his ideas (but I guess that makes sense from a guy who started an accounting software company).
The stories Harpst relates (his own and specially selected vignettes from other companies) rang true for me - whether he was talking about the problem with communication as an organization grows, the tendency to refrain from action even when you know the right thing to do, or problems that occur when you don't factor human nature into the difficulty of making business changes.
A book of action
This book is centered on a methodology designed to guide you through actionable steps to become better at execution within the business, with the goal of taking your business to the next level. Just as his first book focused on Six Disciplines, Harpst has focused Execution Revolution on a 6-phase system to address problems with execution:
Decide what's important (Strategy)
Set goals that lead (Plan)
Align systems (Organize)
Work the plan (Execute)
Innovate purposefully (Innovate)
Step back (Learn)
And the whole thing repeats.
Knowing vs. doing
Now, at a glance, you might think "OK - that all sounds obvious or familiar..." but I encourage you to see what Harpst has to say. After all, how many business have a pretty good idea what they should be doing, but are falling short on delivery and execution? Harpst has obviously been there along with the rest of us, and has devoted his attention to helping organizations break through this obstacle to become high performers.
Harpst's book goes beyond platitudes, and his recommendations are meaty and actionable.
This is not a 'getting started' business book. It's a 'getting better' or 'getting results' book that is well-suited for established SMB's who are in the midst of (or in fear of) a plateau or decline in performance. If you want to jump the curve and get better results in leading an SMB, this book is one you should read.
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