Book Club: 4DX Part 2

Shawn Today

Today we’re continuing the “Book Club” series, going through, The 4 Disciplines of Execution

I’m reading this book right now and am loving it. Over the next several shows I’ll be sharing highlights and key takeaways from the book, and also working through the book’s chapters and how to apply the ideas and themes of the book.

Note that just listening to the podcast isn’t exactly a substitute for reading the book. I’m going to share the main takeaways that are impacting me from this book, but I’m not exhaustively sumarizing it. So, my point being, if the books sounds awesome to you, I highly recommend you buy it and read it.

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The 4 Disciplines of Execution are:

1. Focus on the Wildly Important
2. Act on the Lead Measures
3. Keep a Compelling Scoreboard
4. Create a Cadence of Accountability

Hilghlights from chapter 2:

“Apply disproportionate energy to the activities that drive your lead measures.” (pg. 44)

“While you can’t control how often your car breaks down on the road (a lag measure) you can certainly control how often your car receives routine maintenance (a lead measure). And, the more you act on the lead measure, the more likely you are to avoid that roadside breakdown.” (pg. 45)

“Lead measures are different; they foretell the result. They have two primary characteristics. First, a lead measure is predictive, meaning that if the lead measure changes, you can predict that the lag measure also will change. Second, a lead measure is influenceable; it can be directly influenced by the team. That is, the team can make a lead measure happen without a significant dependence on another team.” (pgs. 46-47)

“Understanding lead measures will be one of the most important insights you take from this book.” (pg. 47)

“There’s a huge difference between merely understanding the importance of diet and exercise and measuring how many calories you’ve eaten and how many you’ve burned. Everyone knows you should diet and exercise, but the people who actually measure how many calories they’ve eaten and how many they’ve burned each day are the ones actually losing weight!” (pg. 49)

“If we followed you around for a few days we would likely observe two predominant activities. One, you would spend most of your time battling your whirlwind, and two, a lot of your remaining time would be spent worrying over your lag measures. The problem with these two activities is that they consume enormous energy and produce little, if any, leverage beyond sustaining your whirlwind. And it’s leverage that you need the most.” (pg. 52)

“To achieve a goal you’ve never achieved before, you must do things you’ve never done before. Look around you. Who else has achieved this goal or something like it? What did they do differently? Analyze carefully any barriers you foresee and decide together how to overcome them. Use your imagination. What haven’t you thought of that might make all the difference?” (pg. 53)

“Find the right lever among many possibilities is perhaps the toughest and most intriguing challenge for leaders trying to execute a WIG.” (pg. 53)

“Lead measure data is almost always more difficult to acquire than lag measure data, but you must pay the price to track your lead measures.” (pg. 60)

“If you’re serious about your WIG, then you must create a way to track your lead measures. Without data, you can’t drive performance on the lead measures; without lead measures, you don’t have leverage.” (pg. 60)

“Coming up with the right lead measures is really about helping everyone see themselves as strategic business partners and engaging them in dialogue about what can be done better or differently in order to achieve the WIGs.” (pg. 63)

Download here. (19:20)