It's Not Rocket Science: 4 Simple Strategies for Mastering the Art of Execution

Chapter 5MAX It!

The Challenge

Organizational leaders are rightly obsessed with outcomes, the numbers, because ultimately that is how they are measured and paid. And although it is helpful to be a student of numbers, the problem with them is that they are lagging indicators. They show up too late to do anything about them. It's like the scoreboard at a ballgame. When the numbers show up, it is too late to change them. They're history. As important as it is to study the numbers, it is far better to be a teacher and manager of the behaviors that create the outcomes. By doing so you're able to intervene, adjust, change them, redefine them, and hold others accountable for them as a means of still influencing the numbers positively before they're history. By staying in the game and continuing to influence the numbers rather than becoming seduced by the numbers themselves, the outcomes that eventually show up on your scoreboard will be far more robust.

Focus Ferociously on the MAX Acts

In this chapter, I will expand on my introduction of master the art of execution (MAX) acts back in Chapter 2, “Make Each Day a Masterpiece,” by providing a more detailed explanation of what MAX acts are and how to use them as the second step in the MAX process.

After getting TUF by deciding which ultimate few objectives you will focus fanatically on, the next logical step is to carefully determine the essential daily activities necessary in each position, starting with your own, to attain them. These ...