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

by Gary Harpst (Author)
Key Phrases: strategy execution program, accountability coaching, leapfrog opportunity, Six Disciplines Figure, Community Learning, The First Complete Strategy Execution Program (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Harpst's new book is a breakthrough achievement, changing the equation for the way business will attack their biggest challenge--executing strategy. --Mick Fleming, president and CEO, American Chamber of Commerce Executives

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and midsized businesses that now have a tremendous opportunity to level the playing field, leapfrog the expensive, outdated approaches of the past, and attack the challenge of execution in a revolutionary way.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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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Six Disciplines Publishing (July 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0981641105
• ISBN-13: 978-0981641102
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #27,941 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Revolutionary advice, June 30, 2008

By	That Dwayne "www.genuinecuriosity.com" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

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.

-- Dwayne Melancon, genuinecuriosity.com

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Management 101, November 6, 2008

By	Viriya Taecharungroj "www.tedded.net" (Bangkok, Thailand) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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

Content

Chapter 1: Business Excellence; the author exhibits a fairly nice model of business excellence balancing Strategy and 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 to 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, and coaching.

Chapter 5: Requirements for 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; and 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 and you'll figure out what the book is about and that's it, that's all you need to know. If you insist, read the summaries in your favourite bookstore for 5-10 minutes and you'll understand everything.

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

Ease of Understanding: 7/10; the book is easy to understand, far too easy to 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 to 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 for his successes but in this book, despite implementing 60,000 business management systems and with more than $20 million bucks and 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 to the context. There are some stories about Solomon Software, the author's successful company. We need more; this book seems like hot air to 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 to cover; Six Disciplines Execution Revolution failed to deliver insightful and thoughtful details or analysis of any specific issue. The author should focus on a specific issue rather than a small book for everything.

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

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

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Creating and then sustaining an "organization for all seasons", June 23, 2008

By	Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Gary Harpst agrees with Thomas Edison: "Vision without execution is hallucination." In his previous book, Six Disciplines for Excellence, Harpst explains the importance of focusing on what's important (i.e. renewing mission, clarifying values, strengthening strategic position, and engaging others with a crystal clear vision as well as defining very few objectives and agreeing on what to stop); of setting goals that engage people (i.e. those that help people to remain focused on doing what must be done to achieve the organization's given objectives); of getting strategies, people, and processes as well as systems in proper alignment; of "working the plan" (i.e. investing in each moment help build the most preferred future for the organization...and make life and work more fulfilling for each individual); of innovating purposefully (e.g. brainstorming regularly as well as recognizing and rewarding the best ideas); and of stepping back (i.e. taking a close look at what's taking place, both internally and externally, and to make whatever mid-course corrections may be needed to ensure the organization is headed in the right direction).

In his latest book, Harpst asserts that "excellence is the enduring pursuit of balanced strategy and execution. Strategy requires choosing what promises to make to all stakeholders and a roadmap for delivering on those promises. Execution requires getting there, while overcoming unending surprises. Of the two, execution is far more difficult to achieve, but it is fruitless without sold strategy. Learning how to balance these two is the key to excellence. Excellence is a journey that never ends. It's an enduring pursuit that requires an enduring approach." In my opinion, the greatest value of this book is derived from the clarity, concision, and precision with which Harpst "nails the basics" in terms of how to formulate an appropriate strategy, with its primary objective to solve an organization's most serious problem because, "if you focus on solving the right problem, the solution of all other problems will be easier (not easy)." On occasion, "all the pieces fall together, creating a leapfrog opportunity to solve old problems." Whether or not what Harpst recommends is "a fundamentally new way" is for each reader to determine. I agree with him that everyone involved in a given organization, "top to bottom," should remain focused on achieving long-term goals with an appropriate strategy. Meanwhile, of course, sufficient revenue must be generated and there must also be effective development of leadership and management skills at all levels and in all areas. As a farmer once observed to Ralph Emerson, "Having a vision is wonderful but you still have to milk the cows and feed the pigs."

With all due respect to the worthy goals of producing more and better work in less time and at a lower cost, of productivity and efficiency, etc., Harpst stresses the importance of knowing and then doing what will add the greatest value to the stakeholders involved in the given enterprise. In this context, I am again reminded of what Peter Drucker said in 1963: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all."

Decision-makers in all organizations (regardless of their size or nature) will find a wealth of practical advice in Harpst's latest book. As is his custom, after acknowledging what everyone agrees is the "what" of execution, he spends most of his time explaining the "how," guided and informed by all six of basic but absolutely essential disciplines. Harpst notes that "whatever issues an organization faces today, they will be different and bigger tomorrow. Planning and executing, while at the same time, managing the unknowns of the real world, is the biggest challenge in business. Overcoming this challenge is what we mean by solving the problem that will make solving all other problems easier. It builds an organization that is preparing for an ever increasing set of future challenges that are the natural result of overcoming today's challenges."

It should be noted that all of Harpst's observations and recommendations are based on a wealth of research that he and his associates have conducted for several years as well as on their central involvement with decision-makers in hundreds of different organizations that have substantially increased the speed, efficiency, and productivity of their performance by executing the six disciplines. Correctly, Harpst stresses that change efforts must be initiated and then sustained at all levels and in all areas throughout the given enterprise.

In this context, I am reminded of Sir Thomas More whom playwright Robert Bolt describes as a "man for all seasons." Gray Harpst believes (and I agree) that only an organization fully prepared for all "seasons" will be able to anticipate, then plan and execute solutions to problems that await in an uncertain future but also, meanwhile, manage "the unknowns of the real world" they face today.