The World's Most Admired Leaders Adopt
"Business Execution"

One of the recurring themes in Barry Wishner's thought-provoking keynotes is the importance of business execution. See below to learn what top business leaders are saying about this topic.

Also see a listing (by industry and company) of some of the CEO's who have provided cutting-edge insights on business execution that form the core of Barry's programs, articles and upcoming book. Fortune Magazine says 70% of CEOs Fail because they don't take action.

ABB Ltd., Percey Barnevik, Former Chairman (Current GM Director): "Thinking - the strategies and designs - only gets you 5-10% of the way. 90% is in the execution."

Accenture, Terry Neill, Former Chairman of Global Board: "Winners out-execute rather than outstrategize, their competitors."

Accenture, Walt Shill, Managing Partner, Strategy Practice: "Today, successful CEOs operate more like they are running white water rapids than sailing a great ship across the ocean. They must intensely focus on executing in the face of constant change. Successful teams are still very strategic, but they have evolved to embrace strategies that are pragmatic and highly focused on execution."

Accenture, George Shaheen, Former CEO: "We better remember that in the end, it's all about execution. You can be right on paper, but if you don't execute it, it's not going to work."

Ace Hardware, Richard E. Laskowski, Former Chairman: "The heart of success is discovering the correct goal and then developing a plan of execution to reach it."

Aguila, Inc., Robert K. Green, Chairman: "Focus and execution are mandatory. The only thing you can really control, after all, is the performance of your company."

Albertson's, Larry Johnston, Former CEO: "When you get the best people, you don't have to worry as much about the execution, because they make it happen."

American General Financial Group, Robert M. Devlin, Former Chairman and CEO, (Current Cooper Industries Director): "Our ability to successfully execute our strategy has produced results that met or exceeded our long-term financial objectives."

AMR Corporation, Robert Crandall, Former CEO: "About half of the job of management is trying to figure out where the company is going to be 5 to 10 years down the road, and the second half is execution."

Assured Guaranty, Donald H. Layton, Director, (Former Director J.P. Morgan Chase): "We intend to be the provider of choice. That takes leveraging our leadership positions and remaining ahead of the curve in new ideas and the means to execute them."

ATT, Ed Whitacre, Former Chairman and CEO (Director Anheuser-Busch and BNSF Railway): "We want to be the only company for your entertainment and communications needs. We have the parts to do it -- we just need to execute."

AXA, Andrew Penn, CEO: "It is good execution more than strategy that separates leaders from players in the market place. It is in the execution and delivery where you succeed or fail. Ultimately, the role of the CEO is to provide a clear vision and direction and ensure it is well executed."

Bain & Company, Chris Zook, Director of Global Strategy: "The company that comes up with a formula to find and execute adjacency moves can bury its competitors."

Borland Software, Dale Fuller, President and CEO: "We just execute flawlessly over and over in a single direction."

Brinker Intl., Douglas Brooks, President and CEO: "Any craftsman or artist will tell you, the success of a vision is contingent upon its execution."

Business Objects, Bernard Liataud, CEO: "We are proud that we have been able to establish this strong leadership through our consistent and focused execution in the marketplace."

Canada Life Financial Corporation, David A. Nield, Director and Former Chairman, President and CEO: "Strategies do not implement themselves, people implement them."

Chief Executive, John Brandt, President & Editorial Editor: "Your first 100 days are critical not to solve the problems (years in the making) but to impress investors that you have a plan and that you can execute."

Cisco, John Chambers, President and CEO: "Besides the general market performance, we can always stumble or be out-executed by our competition."

Citibank, Ed Horowitz, Corporate Executive Vice President [Re: e-Citi]: "The overall execution has gone slower than I had aspired to... People have to come up to speed with the vision, embrace it, embed it in the business plan and get it implemented in the individual business."

Colgate-Palmolive, James S. Figura, VP, Colgate-US: "Execute with excellence and simply be everywhere at once."

Comforce, John Fanning, Chairman and CEO: "Integrity, competency and innovation don't mean a thing without execution."

Cornell International, Alan Guarino, CEO: "It takes the perseverance to stay the course, and the ability to execute."

Crosspoint Venture Partners, Steve Foster, Associate: "There's no shortage of capital or necessary ideas, but it's incredibly difficult to find the people to execute."

Dell, Inc., Kevin Rollins, Former CEO: "We have a strategy which is a Dell Direct business model, but then the key to its success is how well we implement it day in and day out. Anytime we fail to execute it is the biggest risk by far."

Dell Online, Richard Owen, Vice President: "Customer service is still the basis of loyalty. Outstanding execution is still as important as a good strategy."

The Denver Newspaper Agency, Kirk MacDonald, CEO: "Adoption of a fitness-focused lifestyle helped me become more innovative and get better at execution."

Disney, Robert Iger, President and CEO: "Executives must free up resources to execute new ideas and have the courage to take risks rather than just talk about their importance."

Do It Best Corp., Mike McClelland, Former President and CEO: "You can xerox anything that stands still. You can't copy anything moving."

eBay, about Meg Whitman, CEO, (by Tim Bajarin, Creative Marketing Strategies): "Vision is one thing and there's a lot of that in Silicon Valley. Execution is another. She's remarkable at actually getting things done."

E*Trade, Christos Cotsakos, Former CEO: "It's always been about building the right technology and executing on that idea so that we could use that for a variety of different areas and make it a disruptive technology."

Eclipsys, Harvey Wilson, Chairman Emeritus: "We have the proven ability to execute the strategy. If we don't continue to demonstrate that we can execute it, it just becomes words on paper."

EDB, Teo Ming Kian, Chairman: "If we know what Motorola or HP is going to do over the next three to five years globally, we can shape our policies so that we have everything they need in place to quickly implement their plans."

Electronic Data Systems, Les Alberthal, Jr., Former President and CEO: "Our livelihood depends on our ability to execute the soft stuff."

Ethan Allen, Edward Teplitz, EVP: "It's up to leadership to initiate the beginnings of change, and then it's up to us and those below us to implement it. Once we decide the direction we need to come up with an implementation plan and just push it through."

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, Ram Charan, leading U.S. Management Consultant and Author: "The emergence of world-class companies from developing nations is a shift that portends a new global game. Their leaders are good executors who see niches in the global economy and can tap world intellectual capital and financial markets to consolidate control across their industries."

Fifth Third Bancorp, George Schaefer, President: "The main difference between us and 225 different banks in Ohio, 125 to 150 thrifts and 570 credit unions is the human-service element. We focus on daily execution."

Fortune, Peter Lewis, Writer: "To stay atop, you need not only flawless execution but also a blockbuster."

GE Global Exchange Services, Harvey Seegars, President and CEO: "In every case, the distinguishing factor between successful implementations and unsuccessful implementations is the involvement of the CEO."

General Electric, Jack Welch, Former Chairman and CEO: "Just worry about coming up with great ideas, getting the best people, and delivering a terrific execution. A leader is someone who can develop a vision of what he or she wants their business unit to be...and then can relentlessly drive implementation of that vision to a successful conclusion. I believe the desire and the ability, of an organization to continuously learn from any source, anywhere, and to rapidly convert this learning into action, is its ultimate competitive advantage. Information technology is the key to both the learning, as well as the rapid execution of the fruits of that learning."

General Electric, Jeff Immelt, CEO: "Everyone has a decent strategy, but how many have leaders at all levels of the organization who have the understanding, drive and skills to execute it in ways others cannot?"

George Mason University, Robin Hanson, Associate Professor of Economics: "We don't need more suggestion boxes or more street mimes to fill people with a spirit of creativity. We instead need to better manage the flood of ideas we already have and to reward managers for executing them."

Giant Leap Consulting, Bill Treasurer, Founder: "When leaders make plans in a vacuum, they end up with no buy-in from the lower ranks. With no upfront buy-in, your ability to execute at the unit level is DOA."

GM, Noel Tichy, Advisor: "Execution for a dinosaur bureaucracy is rocket science."

GM, Rich Wagoner, CEO: "We're executing the turnaround plan at a pace that's faster than we thought we could."

Golden Corral, Ted Fowler, CEO: "You have to have a plan of where to go, how to approach a hunt in a particular field or area and then execute it."

Good to Great, Jim Collins, Author: (on building enduring great companies and their executives response to change)"They respond -always- with a calm and penetrating search for understanding, followed by deliberate, thoughtful action. It's really a stream of decisions over time, brilliantly executed that accounts for great outcomes."

Hammer and Co., Dr. Michael Hammer, President: "Execution is extremely hard, and you need very careful metrics and instrumentation to know what you're talking about."

Harrah's Entertainment, Gary Loveman, CEO: "Flawlessly executing today's strategy is a paramount concern."

Harvard School of Business, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Professor: "Execution means having the mental and organizational flexibility to put new business models into practice, even if they counter what you're currently doing."

Hay Group, Mel Stark, Vice President: "In today's environment, true leaders must do far more than merely meet the numbers. To effectively implement strategy, they must put people first and continually connect with and motivate their human capital."

HCA, Thomas F. Frist, Jr., MD, Former Chairman and CEO, Current Director [Strategy Statement]: "We would not now be articulating a vision based on local focus and responsibility if we did not believe in the capability and commitment of the people who run our hospitals. Therefore, we ask you to join us by taking local ownership of this strategy and its successful execution in your hospital and community."

Hewlett-Packard, Carly S. Fiorina, Former CEO (Current Cybertrust Director): "You'd have the most brilliant deal in the world, and if you don't execute, it's worth nothing. Sharpen your vision, focus and execution. Re-imagine what you can be."

Hewlett-Packard, Mark Hurd, Chairman, CEO & President: "Execution trumps vision, especially in a turnaround."

Home Depot, Inc., Dennis Donovan, Former Executive Vice President, HR: "The success of the strategy rests in people's execution."

Honeywell Intl., Larry Bossidy, Former CEO: "Success today is not simply about leading anymore. It must be about implementing, not just announcing, strategies."

HSBC Holdings, Sir John R. H. Bond, Chairman: "There are few original strategies in banking. There's only execution."

Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Ann Winblad, Co-founding Partner: "The most important thing we learned is that optimism cannot outweigh execution." IBM, Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., Former Chairman and CEO (Current Sloan-Kettering Director): "This technology stuff is hard. And if I'm a company, what I really want is somebody who can help me implement it."

IBM, Samuel J. Palmisano, CEO: "As the Internet and globalization widen the pool of new ideas, it's about selecting and executing the right ideas and bringing them to market in record time. The company's own execution problems were mostly to blame for first quarter earnings shortfall, adding that IBM was 'taking aggressive action' to remedy them."

Ideo Inc., Tim Brown, President and CEO: "Innovation is only valuable when you implement it beautifully and elegantly."

Inc Magazine, George Gendron, Editor-In-Chief: "It's easy for us to inadvertently convey the impression that innovative approaches to management can take care of everything. They can't. They're certainly no substitute for good, solid business execution."

Intuit, Bill Harris, Former CEO: "We always thought of ourselves as fast . . . But suddenly everyone was fast . . . The question we had was, Can we execute? Adapting to new business cycles meant rethinking certain processes we had grown comfortable with."

J.C. Penney, Allen Questrom, Chairman and CEO: "The bigger the company, the more you have to sell the strategy to the organization. The more people who understand the strategy the more likely it will get executed."

John H. Harland Company, Robert J. Amman, Former President and CEO: "While extremely important, the development of a strategy is not effective without the means to execute."

Johns Hopkins Medicine, C. Michael Armstrong, Chairman: "We had a strong quarter... it represents the execution and operation strengths of a company that's learning to [meet] its commitments."

Johnstone Supply, Gary Daniels, President and CEO: "Vision is nothing without action. Reaching the billion dollar sales mark is a tribute to everyone, our Independent Members, employees and corporate support people, who committed to a goal and executed through hard work and diligence."

Kellogg Company, Carlos M. Gutierrez, Chairman and CEO: "The entire organization is intensely focused on executing our plans, earning our stripes each and every day."

Kohl's, John Herma, Former COO: "We do twenty simple things that have impact when taken together. The key is the consistency of execution."

LeapFrog Enterprises, Michael Wood, Vice Chairman, President and CEO: "You need to ...assemble a management team with the skills to execute."

Lend Lease Corporate Solutions, Ann McCallum, Executive: "The only limits to growth are those of imagination and execution."

Levi Strauss & Co., Philip Marineau, President and CEO: "Market to the greatest share of opportunity and then execute those ideas flawlessly."

Lightsurf Technologies, Philippe Kahn, Chairman and CEO: "In the real world, the toughest challenge is 'The Business Model and Its Execution.' An MBA provides a solid foundation. Yet, it must be coupled with innovation, teamwork and commitment."

McDonalds, Michael R. Quinlan, Former Chairman (Current Dunn & Bradstreet Director): "Our Execution Strategy identifies seven initiatives that will provide a 100% experience: hot and tasty food, fast service, food safety, accurate orders, friendliness, employee satisfaction and merchandising."

McGraw-Hill, Terry McGraw, CEO: "The greatest challenge for tomorrow's CEO lies in their ability to teach. The impact they can have is being able to take their experience and relate it in a way that people can better understand how to go about doing things - how to think more broadly, how an organization achieves - and what teamwork really means."

Mellon Financial, David Lamere, Chairman and CEO: "We are extremely well positioned to produce results for our clients and shareholders by having built a team of talented people who are not only excellent in their execution but are also people of integrity."

MindShare, Mark Mooradian, VP and Senior Analyst: "As companies find the Internet profoundly affecting the way they do business, they must take the time to develop a long-term strategy that a highly qualified leader and team can execute."

Morgan Stanley, Judy Warrick, Senior Advisor, Investment Banking: "Now execution and humility are in."

Motorola, Mike Zafirovski, President and COO: "Execution is clearly ahead of us."

MSCO, Mark Stevens, CEO: "Self doubt is what drives you to a conclusion. Is it the right conclusion? You don't know until you begin to execute, but you've got to start somewhere."

MTV, Dr. Drew Pinsky, Costar: "Don't forget the importance of execution. Even the most farfetched schemes can become huge successes if executed correctly."

NBC Entertainment, Kevin Reilly, President: "We've gotten the public comfortable with very high quality of execution."

Neo Pet, Carla Miraldi, President: "Strategy execution goes to the fabric of a company. All the threads have to be woven together just the right way for the process to work."

New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg: "Hire lieutenants who can get the job done. Let's just do it."

New York City Public Schools, Joel Klein, Chancellor: "I'm not especially thin-skinned, but the things that really bug me are when we execute poorly."

Nike, Chris Zook, Head Global Strategy Practice, Bain & Co.: "The company that comes up with a formula to find and execute adjacency moves can bury its competitors. Nike is a case in-point."

OneWorld Health, William A. Haseltine, Ph.D., Director: There must be a shared vision, strong leadership, fully capable management and finally, superb execution."

Palm Computing, Ed Colligan, President and CEO: "Sure, we're part of a big company. But if we keep executing the way we have been, I can't imagine anyone wanting to screw around with us."

Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, Founder: "The point was not to focus on making money: focus on doing things right, and the profits would come."

Pitney Bowes, Murray Martin, COO: "Innovation without implementation is of no value."

PNC Financial Services Group, Thomas O'Brien, Director: "The key to our success will be execution."

PSS/World Medical, Patrick Kelly, Co-Founder: "It's not how smart you are, it's how you apply yourself that determines your success."

RCCL, Harri Kulovaara, EVP Maritime: "I've been involved in the building of 35 ships. Execution is relatively easy, compared with finding talent."

The Reader's Digest Association, Eric W. Schrier, President and CEO: "We must operate beyond individual comfort zones to ensure that we don't lose focus on first-rate innovation and execution to keep our traditional print and direct mail businesses thriving."

Reengineering The Corporation, James Champy, Co-Author: "High achievers recognize the connection between quality and value. They see that social and economic value is created through effective execution."

R.R. Donnelley, Direct, Tim Stratman, CEO: "A good execution plan is an invisible hand that moves the unimportant stuff out of the way so that people can focus on what really needs to happen."

Russell Reynolds Associates, Andrea Redmond, Co-Leader, CEO and Board Services Practice: "We energized the people, who then brought that energy to implementing the strategies."

Russell Reynolds Associates, Charles Tribbett III, Co-Leader, CEO/ and Board Services Practice: "It's one thing to sit around the table and be passionate and excited about diversity, but it's another to actually roll up your sleeves and execute it."

Silver Lake Partners, Dave Roux, General Partner: "Money and ideas are easy to come by. In fact, there's a surplus of money in Silicon Valley. What's missing is execution."

Southern Company, David Ratcliffe, CEO: "We have a good strategy and a good implementation plan, with the right people to get it done."

Spencer Stuart, Tom Neff, Chairman: "The board should consider giving a vote of support to the CEO and giving him or her a chance to execute a viable strategy that may require more time to implement. CEOs must understand both business strategy and the process of implementation."

Sprint, William T. Esrey, Former Chairman (Current General Mills Director): "The biggest hurdles are execution - We're working with a number of key vendors - and marketing."

The Stanley Works, John M. Trani, Former Chairman and CE: , "Those who learn the art of execution win, and those who do not fail."

Staples, Thomas Stemburg, Former Chairman and CEO (current Nasdaq Director): "Execution and detail are everything."

Starbucks, Howard Schultz, Chairman: "Experience has taught me that it's easy to talk about values, hard to implement them, and even harder for an outsider to determine which values are heartfelt and which are window-dressing."

Steelcase, Jim P. Hackett, President and CEO: "You won't have the respect of your peers if you're allowed to sit back and theorize about a problem without having to do it."

Stephen Sondheim: "Everything depends on execution, having just a vision is no solution."

SunTrust Banks, Annual Report: "At SunTrust...success is equally dependent on execution, and execution is dependent on a good team working together to put plans into action."

Sunrise Senior Living, Paul Klassen, Chairman and CEO: "A promise to develop and successfully execute a business strategy that delivers strong results."

Symantec, John W. Thompson, Chairman, CEO: "We have a very motivated and excited team that has the capability to execute well against the goals that we've set for ourselves."

Symbol Technologies, William R. (Bill) Nuti, President, CEO, COO, Director: "We're confident of the vision. We're confident in what we need to do operationally, from a strategy point of view. We've executed Corporate America's best practices with respect to organizational and cultural change programs."

Symbol Technologies, Todd Abbott, Senior Vice President World Wide Operations: "With our strategy, Symbol Technologies has the opportunity to define the enterprise mobility reference architecture in the market. Now it is up to each one of us to execute."

Synopsys, Aart de Geus, CEO: Defines the Synopsys culture or employer brand, first as being a technology leader and second as "an ethical, high-quality company that executes well."

Target, Robert Ulrich, Chairman and CEO: "It's not rocket science, but people need to be motivated. It's a more difficult strategy to executive if you're not."

TBWA\Worldwide, Jean-Marie Dru, President and CEO: "Disruption has always been there. The only difference is people used to talk about it but didn't implement."

Teoco, Atul Jain, CEO: "First to market doesn't always win. It's all about execution."

Thomas Edison: "Vision without execution is a hallucination."

Tom Peters Group, Tom Peters, CEO: "The reality in most organizations is that execution too often turns into talking about execution. It becomes talking instead of doing. You must build a unified organization that is quick, bold and knows how to execute."

Tornante Company, Michael Eisner, CEO: "In addition to having valuable ideas, you must have an organization that can follow through and execute that good idea. A lot of people have good ideas, but not that many do anything about them."

Trendspotting, Robyn Waters, Speaker and Author (The Hummer and the Mini), "I have a mantra that I use for implementing great ideas: Make it real. Keep it simple. Make it happen. Too many great ideas fall by the wayside for lack of execution."

Tyler Perry Studios, Roger Bobb, Producer: "You've got to get it right, whatever it takes, for our vision to be implemented efficiently and instantaneously."

Unisys, Lawrence A. Weinback, Former Chairman, President, and CEO (Current UBS Director): "Vision and strategy are important, but the key to success is execution. What's behind this success? At Unisys, it comes down to two key factors: focus and execution. Execution is what will distinguish the winners from the losers. We've also spent a lot of time communicating and educating people about the importance of execution."

UPS, Tom Weidemeyer, Former COO (Current Goodyear Director): "When we've had challenges executing, it's primarily been because we didn't truly understand the full nature of the undertaking and what it would take to be successful."

USAA, Robert T. Herres, Former Chairman and CEO: "It's easy to recognize the need for strategic planning: getting it right is the hard part."

Virgin, Sir Richard Branson, Founder and Chairman: "I can have an idea in the morning and have it implemented in the evening."

Volvo Financial Services, Sal Mauro, President and CEO: "The 'Big 5' tool, our appreciation for speed in decision making and our distaste for bureaucracy are advantageous to executing our plans decisively."

Walker Dental, Jay S. Walker, Former Chairman and CEO: "Execution is what keeps you up at night."

Wall Street Journal, Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.: [Regarding Michael Eisner, Disney's CEO] "Disney under Mr. Eisner has proved the military wisdom that, more than a perfect plan, what counts is energetic, opportunistic execution."

Walt Disney's Four Pillars Of Success: "I dream, I test my dreams against my beliefs, I dare to take risks, and I execute my vision to make those dreams come true." Warnaco, Linda Wachner, Former CEO: "There are a few people in life who know how to think, and in our economy, the rewards are sensational for those people who can make things happen."

Washington Mutual, Kerry Killinger, Chairman, President and CEO: "Washington Mutual will continue to execute the business plan that it has had in place for nearly a decade and hat has helped place our company among the industry leaders in total shareholder return."

WebMD, Jeffrey Arnold, Former Chairman and CEO (Current Premier Global Services Director): "What keeps me up at night is that we've made big promises to big companies, and now we have to execute on them all."

Weiner, Edrich, Brown, Arnold Brown, Chairman: "If knowledge was power, college professors would rule the world. Execution is power. Execution is everything."

Wells Fargo, Richard M. Kovacevich, Chairman, President, CEO, (On Distribution Strategy): "A vision and a strategy aren't enough. The long term key to success is execution. Each day. Everyday. The employees of your company continue to execute very well. Our success has nothing to do with planning, it has to do with execution."

Westpac, David Morgan, CEO: "The most common reason CEOs fail is due to failures of execution, by getting too far away from the business. Execution was, is and always remains the number one priority, the 'must do' part of the job."

Yahoo! Inc., Jerry Yang, Chief Yahoo CEO and Director: "The execution of our business plan has been key to the company's success.