Ruthless Execution

By Amir Hartman, Prentice Hall, 2004, 223 pages

List price: $24.95, ISBN: 0-13-101884-1

When high-level performance hits an obstacle that threatens a company's future, whether the obstacle is the overall economy, stagnant product lines or the company's own complacency, the problem is the same: Business leaders didn't see it coming, Amir Hartman writes in Ruthless Execution.

Hartman notes that in 2001, 257 public companies with $258 billion in total assets declared bankruptcy. Other firms' market value eroded, including former top performers such as Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, AOL Time Warner and Charles Schwab.

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How can business leaders break through performance walls instead of hitting them with a crash? In Ruthless Execution, Hartman uses detailed case studies of real executives to illustrate how they redirected their companies.

Hartman, founder of Mainstay Partners in Redwood City, Calif., emphasizes planning. Studying issues before acting on them and being analytical rather than shooting from the hip as problems arise is tough but essential in difficult times. Hartman breaks the lessons culled from leaders into three areas:

* Leadership. "Many senior executives have virtually no experience in managing their companies through bad times," Hartman notes. When performance problems hit, they pull out the axes and make cuts that hurt long-term growth prospects.

Leaders must learn "portfolio management," setting priorities among their investments and resources. Hartman creates a portfolio performance tool for assessing initiatives' risks. What specific projects should you continue? What should you stop immediately? What actions should you take now to get off a performance plateau?

Hartman notes traps that drag companies further into trouble: Sticking with the familiar, or going with too many small, cautious initiatives when they should be bold, or striking out boldly as an innovator when they should get back to basics.

* Governance. Discipline, performance management and accountability are on the leaders' shoulders. Shareholder value is their chief priority.

Overcoming performance barriers requires strong performance management systems and regular revisiting of performance measures.

* Critical capabilities. These are the actions that must take place for performance to improve. Productivity management has to hold the reins on cost, capital and technology. Critical talent management includes hunting down the best talent and pruning deadwood.

Hartman includes a "ruthless execution index," a questionnaire to help readers decide whether their organization risks hitting a performance wall.

Inclusion of a book does not imply endorsement by SHRM or HR Magazine.

COMPILED BY LEIGH RIVENBARK, A FREE-LANCE WRITER AND EDITOR BASED IN VIENNA, VA.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Society for Human Resource Management
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group