Ruthless Execution: What Business Leaders Do when Their Companies Hit the Wall

Front Cover
FT Press, 2004 - Business & Economics - 223 pages

Today's business leaders need a radically different skill from their recent predecessors: they must know how to know how to manage through adversity while preparing their companies for a new rebirth of success. In Ruthless Execution, Amir Hartman, author of the bestselling NETREADY, identifies the central ingredients that help certain companies to get beyond the wall and thrive--and show how to instill these ingredients in your organization. You will learn when and how to recalibrate the balance between performance and growth; how to define a coherent, tightly-drawn business philosophy that maps to specific actions; new ways to promote accountability and business alignment; and how to use performance metrics without burying people in meaningless trivia. Also discover how to promote real discipline: the ability to get the job done quickly, efficiently, and effortlessly--without bureaucracy. Next, you learn how to develop stronger "critical capabilities" for understanding and managing complexity. Along the way, the authors present case studies of world-class enterprises that have used these strategies to achieve breakthrough success. Watch John Chambers maneuver Cisco through the telecom collapse; Lou Gerstner impose powerful new discipline at IBM; Harry Kraemer realign Baxter with transformed markets; Dan Vasella transform Novartis through mergers; and many more...all unified by one central factor: ruthless execution.

 

Contents

MANAGING THROUGH TOUGH TIMES
1
HOW TO PLAY THE GAME 93
5
Leadership DEALING WITH Rude
25
Jack WeLCHS
53
John Chambers
71
TIMES
95
Lou Gerstner
113
Breaking ThrougH THE WALL
143
The Steve
165
Dan Vasella
177
Larry Bossidy
193
WHAT IT ALL MEANS
203
INDEX
217
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page viii - Restoring Confidence in America's Companies John R. Nofsinger Investment Blunders (of the Rich and Famous)... And What You Can Learn from Them John R. Nofsinger Investment Madness: How Psychology Affects Your Investing... And What to Do About It H.
Page vii - From Concept to Wall Street: A Complete Guide to Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital David Gladstone and Laura Gladstone Venture Capital Handbook: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Raising Venture Capital, Revised and Updated Thomas K. McKnight Will It Fly?
Page viii - Valuing Old Tech, New Tech, and New Economy Companies Kenneth R. Ferris and Barbara S. Pecherot Petitt Valuation: Avoiding the Winner's Curse International Business Peter Marber Money Changes Everything: How Global Prosperity Is Reshaping Our Needs, Values, and Lifestyles Fernando Robles, Franchise Simon, and Jerry Haar Winning Strategies for the New Latin Markets Investments Zvi Bodie and Michael J. Clowes Worry-Free Investing: A Safe Approach to Achieving Your Lifetime Goals Harry Domash Fire Your...
Page viii - John R. Nofsinger Investment Blunders (of the Rich and Famous)... And What You Can Learn from Them John R. Nofsinger Investment Madness: How Psychology Affects Your Investing... And What to Do About It Erica Orloff and Kathy Levinson, Ph.D.
Page viii - Stewart Black and Hal B. Gregersen Leading Strategic Change: Breaking Through the Brain Barrier Deirdre Breakenridge Cyberbranding: Brand Building in the Digital Economy William C.

About the author (2004)

A leading global authority on corporate and technologytransformations, Amir Hartman is also a bestselling author and SeniorFellow at the Harvard Business School Interactive and Berkeley's HaasSchool of Business, where he teaches in their Executive MBA programs. He is the Founder and Managing Director of Mainstay Partners in RedwoodCity, California, which provides strategic services to business leadersin such companies as HP, Honeywell, Oracle, and Office Depot. Asought-after speaker to forums of senior business leaders, Hartman is the author ofthe books Net Ready and Search for Digital Excellence.