only the leader can make execution happen

An organization can execute only if the leader's heart and soul are immersed in the company. Leading is more than thinking big, or schmoozing with investors and lawmakers, although those are part of the job. The leader has to be engaged personally and deeply in the business. Execution requires a comprehensive understanding of a business, its people, and its environment. The leader is the only person in a position to achieve that understanding. And only the leader can make execution happen, through his or her deep personal involvement in the substance and even the details of execution.

The leader must be in charge of getting things done by running the three core processes - picking other leaders, setting the strategic direction, and conducting operations. These actions are the substance of execution, and leaders cannot delegate them regardless of the size of the organization.

How good would a sports team be if the coach spent all of his time in his office making deals for new players, while delegating actual coaching to an assistant? A coach is effective because he's constantly observing players individually and collectively on the field and in the locker room. That's how he gets to know his players and their capabilities, and how they get firsthand the benefit of his experience, wisdom, and expert feedback.

It's no different for a business leader. Only a leader can ask the tough questions that everyone needs to answer, then manage the process of debating the information and making the right trade-offs. And only the leader who's intimately engaged in the business can know enough to have the comprehensive view and ask the tough incisive questions. 

Only the leader can set the tone of the dialogue in the organization. Dialogue is the core of culture and the basic unit of work. How people talk to each other absolutely determines how well the organization will function. Is the dialogue stilted, politicized, fragmented, and butt-covering? Or is it candid and reality-based, raising the right questions, debating them, and finding realistic solutions? If it's the former - as it is in all too many companies - reality will never come to the surface. If it is to be the latter, the leader has to be on the playing field with his management team, practicing it consistently and forcefully. 

Specifically, the leader has to run the three core processes and has to run them with intensity and rigor. 

Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan 

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan with Charles Burck. 2002. Crown Business, NY, NY. p. 24, 25

the ability to execute

Most often today the difference between a company and its competitor is the ability to execute. If your competitors are executing better than you are, they're beating you in the here and now, and the financial markets won't wait to see if your elaborate strategy plays out. So leaders who can't execute don't get free runs anymore. Execution is the great unaddressed issue in the business world today. Its absence is the single biggest obstacle to success and the cause of most of the disappointments that are mistakenly attributed to other causes...

Here is a fundamental problem: people think of execution as the tactical side of business, something leaders delegate while they focus on the perceived "bigger" issues. this idea is completely wrong. Execution is not just tactics - it is a discipline and a system. It has to be built into a company's strategy, its goals, and its culture. And the leader of the organization must be deeply engaged in it. He cannot delegate its substance. Many business leaders spend vast amounts of time learning and promulgating the latest management techniques. But their failure to understand and practice execution negates the value of almost all they learn and preach. Such leaders are building houses without foundations.

Ram Charan

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan with Charles Burck. 2002. Crown Business, NY, NY. p. 5,6

and no further guidance

Major Dick Winters is an extraordinary human being. Very self-effacing and very professional in a soldierly manner. When I met him I had showed him my training schedule and said, “Sir can you look and suggest anything I might do differently?” And he had read it the night before. He said, “You know Captain - I think this  would be adequate. Of course it’s not really the aspect of the training, it’s the quality of the training. It’s the Leadership.” And I said, “Yes sir. I understand that full well.” And he said, “I don’t have anything particular to add - except do it well - and hang tough.” And I said, “Yes sir. Absolutely will do that.”  

And I wanted him to come and observe. And in the moment he said, “No, I don’t think I will.” What I sensed was, not that Dick Winters wasn’t interested - Lord knows he was - but he trusted me, as a subordinate, as a fellow officer - he trusted me to do it right. And to me that was the world’s greatest compliment. That he would say, “ No I don’t want to come out and monitor what you’re doing. I trust you to do it. You are a young company commander. I’m the old battalion commander. I was fired up because nothing inspires a leader more than being given a basic mission and no further guidance. “This is what I want you to do. It is up to you as a professional to get it done.” And that’s what Dick Winters did with me. 

Capt. Dale Dye

Band of Brothers Podcast, Episode 3 "Carentan" with Capt. Dale Dye & Matthew Settle. hosted by Roger Bennett. 

truth vs. embarrassment

When [Head Coach Monty] Williams was asked how he has evolved since New Orleans, he didn’t shy away from being honest.

“I thought I had the answers,” he said. “I was a lot younger, probably more brash, more stubborn. Now I’m starting to figure out the questions. I’m probably in a place in my life where I’m more apt to listen and delegate more.”

Williams had a reputation for butting heads and it sounds like he’s grown from that.

“I understand the difference between telling someone the truth and embarrassing them and that [used to be] one of my flaws in New Orleans,” he said.

Kellan Olson

"Suns’ Monty Williams always adopting concepts, adapting coaching style," Arizona Sports. May 21, 2019

step away

Today, most assume that Xbox was somehow destined to be a winner, but having been Microsoft’s chief Xbox officer, I am here to report that its early years were much more like a ship on the rocks than a sloop cutting through the waves.... As I reflect on surviving the near-death Xbox experience, which we turned around using a strategy process called the 3P Framework to create Xbox 360... I would humbly suggest the following:

Step away. Almost every leader’s first instinct is to dive into the engine room to fix problems he or she sees. At the depths of the Xbox process, I found myself up late at night doing manual DVD testing to identify flaws in the Xbox DVD drive. Although that level of engagement theoretically shows that you are part of the solution, it is almost always a mistake. Instead, take the time to step away from the keyboard and elevate your attention to the broader issues. How and why did we get here? What are the root causes of our dysfunction? How can I use strategy, team design, delegation, and other macro tools to guide us in a better direction? If you dive in, you encourage the team to cede responsibility to you. If you step back and provide guidance, you empower them to take ownership.

Robbie Bach

"The Big Leadership Lessons I Learned Almost Failing To Create Xbox For Microsoft" Forbes. 11/5/2015