It's Not What You Say...It's What You Do

Amazon.com: Books: It's Not What You Say...It's What You Do : How Following Through At Every Level Can Make Or Break Your Company by Laurence Haughton :

Reviewer: Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas)

Previously, Haughton co-authored with Jason Jennings a book which I admire very much, It's Not the Big That Eat the Small...It's the Fast That Eat the Slow, in which he and Jennings explain how to use speed to achieve and then sustain a decisive competitive advantage in business. In this volume, Haughton focuses on the importance of follow-through which he asserts (and I agree) often determines success or failure in a competitive marketplace, whatever its nature and extent may be. He insists that what makes or breaks an organization is NOT the result of finding (or not finding) the perfect strategy; rather, contrary to conventional wisdom, success or failure is determined by the nature and extent of follow-through at every and all levels of an organization.

Haughton's conclusions and assertions are based on extensive research (his and others,' duly cited) to explain disfunctions common to most organizations. For example, a situation cited in a research study conducted by Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business:

"Half of all the decisions a company makes in order to solve some problem or take advantage of some opportunity will fall through the cracks in less than two years...not because of uncontrollable factors like a recession, unexpected cost hikes or any other outside factors but simply from a lack of follow-through." In this context, there appears to be what Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton characterize as the "Knowing-Doing Gap." How to prevent or overcome it? Haughton identifies four "building blocks," the components crucial to effective follow through:

1. Having [begin italics] a clear direction [end italics] so everyone understands where they're headed in no uncertain terms.
2. Matching [begin italics] the right people [end italics] to every goal.
3. Getting off to a great start with plenty of [begin italics] buy-in [end italics].
4. Making sure everyone maintains their momentum by increasing [begin italics] individual initiative [end italics].

Easier said then done? Of course. Haughton knows that and provides in the first three chapters several specific, practical suggestions as (1) to "how to turn vague, general, or conflicting expectations into clear, specific, and coordinated targets -- even if you're the manager stuck in the middle between headquarters, and customers," (2) "how to quickly connect the dots between what people say and what they really want, without them telling you in an overt of explicit manner," and (3) how to formulate and then implement "a system for thinking things through more thoroughly (even under tight deadlines) and fine-tuning your directions with tactics prone to [begin italics] succeed [end italics]." The balance of this book provides addition information, observations, and suggestions -- as well as countless anecdotes, real-world examples, and executive profiles -- which will help decision-makers in any organization (regardless of size or nature) to flourish.

Chapter 7 offers especially valuable material. In it, citing Anand Sharma's simple four-step strategy, Haughton explains how to outmaneuver the CAVE people (i.e. citizens against virtually everything) who rigorously -- and cleverly -- oppose all change initiatives which threaten what, in Leading Change, Jim O'Toole calls "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." (Please see pages 107-121 in It's Not What You Say....) Of great value, also, is Haughton's discussion of Leslie Robertson (a structural engineer who helped design the World Trade Center) and James Crowe (CEO of Level 3 Communications) in the book's final chapter. Both offer compelling examples of those who understand that follow-through is a way of life, not a strategy. As Haughton explains when concluding his book, "All managers must be willing to expose themselves (like Robertson and Crowe) and say, 'The robustness and stamina of the follow-through is my responsibility. All our promises have my name on them.' "

Those who share my high regard for this brilliant book are urged to check out the aforementioned Pfeffer and Sutton's The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action and O'Toole's Leading Change; also Clayton M. Christensen, Erik A. Roth, and Scott D. Anthony's Seeing What's Next: Using Theories of Innovation to Predict Industry Change; and Marco Iansiti and Roy Levien's The Keystone Advantage: What the New Dynamics of Business Ecosystems Mean for Strategy, Innovation, and Sustainability.