Customer Reviews

Leading Strategy Execution

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In my library, I've many books on organizational change and strategic planning. Unfortunately, far too many books get bogged down in the conceptual realm. The books I return to again and again are the ones that provide both big-picture and ground-level views. "Leading Strategy Execution" is one of those books. While reading it, I enjoyed the engaging mix of what the 30,000 foot level looks like, explicit processes and steps to take action (amply illustrated with actual stories), and numerous nuggets of experience-based suggestions and perspectives. I particularly like the many charts, tables, and diagrams which concisely summarize the meat of the narrative. Finally, I appreciate the many references to outside research which anchor the authors' content in a very grounded manner. I highly recommend this book.

I am only 1/3 of the way through the book and already implementing the strategies and activities. As the Director of a Head Start program, I find Dr. McKnight's insights, tools, and activities so helpful with my Leadership Team as we develop and implement our 3-year plan. I am recommending this book to the CEO of our agency for use with her Vice Presidents and Board.

With Leading Strategy Execution, you are like to get it! McKnight, Kaney and Breuer have put together a powerful and eminently practical guide to turning strategic vision into actual business results. Leading Strategy Execution is full of wisdom, real life examples and practical action steps that will empower business leaders to align their organizations and engage their employees' passions and discretionary efforts toward achieving meaningful strategic objectives. Through alignment and engagement, you'll be able to unleash the untapped potential in your organization and enable your strategy to become reality.

The authors have done a great job of presenting strategy execution in a thorough and accessible way. Specifically, this book provides: context to understand where and how strategy execution fits within an organization, techniques to develop a leader or consultant's awareness and skills; and real-world examples to best understand how those techniques can be applied.

The authors have created an understandable, useful book that is based upon solid theories. The visuals are fantastic and their assessments useful, concise and to the point. Their "action learning" concept at the end of chapters is a great way to digest their chapters. This is one of the most practical strategy books I have read.

Dr. Kevin McCormack
DRK Research

As a consultant working with Large Scale Change, I found this to be an extremely useful book. It ties together value disciplines, strategy scorecards, competencies and execution through engaged people to achieve desired results. Anyone whose results failed to live up to those their strategy was designed to achieve, should read this book. It will help you learn where the breakdowns occurred and what you can do about it. It's an interesting, pragmatic and insightful guidebook for extremely difficult and critical organizational issues.

Bobbi Tower,
President,
Inner Edge Organizational Consultants.

I know the quality work that these authors do--we've been acquainted for many years. This valuable book is an extension of their thoughtful, powerful and user-friendly approach. I regularly recommend this book to senior leaders whose responsibilities include organizational performance, especially those in a turnaround situation where results are needed quickly.


Karen D. Kaufman
Executive Coach
The Kaufman Partnership, Ltd.
Philadelphia, Pa. 19106

The model is understandable, sound in theory and offers great practical tools and tips. I also found Leading Execution inspiring as it offers a realistic plan leaders can implement to effect system-wide change. --Dave Bolz, HR Director, BlackRock

"In this book, McKnight, Kaney, and Breuer provide a highly useful, if not the antidote for the unacceptable failure rate of leaders. The research is clear: One out of every two persons in positions of leadership fails. The primary culprit is insufficient engagement of followers in strategy development and execution."
--W. Warner Burke, PhD, Chair, Department of Organization & Leadership, Teachers College, Columbia University

"This books puts it all together! It is pragmatic, readable, and realistic. The authors offer tools, stories, and sound advice based on their years of experience...an exceptionally valuable read"
--Linda Ackerman Anderson, author of The Change Leader's Roadmap

"Any executive or manager concerned with strategy execution should read this book. The authors tell you how to build a comprehensive strategy execution roadmap that deploys strategy throughout the organization and fits the organization to it."
--Dan Phelan, Chief of Staff, GlaxoSmithKline