Dec 9, 2020
Chris McChesney is a Wall Street Journal #1 National
Best-Selling Author – The 4 Disciplines of
Execution. In his
current role of Global Practice Leader of Execution for
FranklinCovey, Chris is one of the primary developers of The 4
Disciplines of Execution. Chris shares his thoughts on what it takes to
focus, why you shouldn’t wait to innovate, and how to effectively
lead in the midst of ambiguity.
Key Takeaways
[3:25] Chris discusses whether
focus is the key to execution or if there are other factors at play
here.
[4:35] “Be very deliberate about
what is the area of focus and everything else the organization
needs to sustain.”
[8:00] The four disciplines of
execution are:
- Get
clear on the critical target.
- Leverage your metrics on a team
level.
- Boost
employee engagement by showing them the score.
- Hold
people accountable.
[14:20] When it comes to
defining your target, there needs to be a combination of what’s
most important and what’s most at risk.
[16:25] If you want innovation,
then you have to allow people to experiment, which means taking on
a certain amount of team failure.
[17:45] It can be so easy to
lose focus when you’re trying to experiment on the latest flavor of
the month.
[22:25] People aren’t afraid of
change. They’re afraid of ambiguity. In every major disaster, there
is a spike in divorce rates as well as marriage rates, because
people don’t like being in limbo. They need certainty.
[24:15] Because of the
circumstance we’re in, every industry is being forced to change and
switch things up. People are tapped out and being drained from all
sides.
[29:05] When the status quo is
good, it can be hard to push yourself out of your comfort zone to
innovate. It comes down to having a weekly discipline.
[33:55] Emotion alone will not
sustain you in achieving those non-urgent tasks.
[37:55] Chris shares the story
of his creative and slightly sneaky way of getting to work
alongside Stephen Covey when he was a recent college
grad.
[42:15] Listener challenge: Do
the people who work for you feel like they can win?
Quotable Quotes
- “It’s
better to fall in love with the problem than to fall in love with
the solution.”
- “The
best strategies, the most vital strategies, don’t stand up to the
day-to-day urgency of maintaining the operation.”
- “You
can chase your tail all day long on what’s most important.
Everyone’s got a good argument for that.”
- “If
you’re going to have a breakthrough, it’s going to require
innovation. And innovation requires trial and error.”
- “People don’t fear change. They will initiate
change all the time. They fear uncertainty — there’s a difference —
and uncertainty is really akin to ambiguity.”
- “When
you need a hero, it means something went really wrong.”
- “The
accountability that we’re talking about is the kind of
accountability that happens after the expectations have been
set.“
- “Energy against non-urgent priorities really
does require a system because emotion alone, it’ll last a couple of
weeks and it wears out.“
Resources Mentioned
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