[Wall Street Journal] #1 Business Bestseller, [USA TODAY] Bestseller
The bible of execution proven by Fortune 500 companies including Marriott, Kroger, and Comcast.

Have you ever witnessed a major initiative slip away in your organization? Is it drowned out by the noise of the surrounding environment? Is it slowly and quietly suffocated by other priorities? The daily grind of urgent tasks, like a whirlwind, consumes all the energy and time you could have spent on achieving your most important goals.

In the recently published book, "If You Want to Get Results, Take Action," the author introduces four powerful principles that will improve performance by motivating teams and organizations to take action. This is a proven, repeatable formula that was perfected after analyzing over 13,000 people across 17 industries worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies, conducting internal assessments at 500 companies, surveying over 300,000 leaders and team members over 10 years, and implementing it directly with the general public over 1,500 times.
Part 1 details each principle, exploring why these seemingly simple concepts can be so difficult to implement and how to achieve successful strategy and execution.
Part 2 is a field guide that looks at how teams can implement the four principles and the systems in place to manage them.
In Part 3, the authors share their performance-enhancing know-how gleaned from hundreds of consulting experiences.
Finally, a separate "Frequently Asked Questions" section answers the many questions that arise when implementing strategies in various fields, and also presents how the four principles can help individuals and families achieve their goals.
These principles are a new way of thinking and an excellent way of working needed to survive in today's competitive environment.
This is a must-read for any business leader.

Here's what we've learned from studying leaders and teams across industries, schools, and government agencies around the world.
Once I decide to do something, the biggest challenge is getting people to execute it at the level I want.
Why is execution so difficult? If the strategy is clear and the leader drives it, wouldn't the team naturally participate? The answer is "no."
In reality, leaders will have had many experiences where this was not the case.
In this book, readers will find actionable and impactful insights gleaned from our experiences.
And you'll discover a set of principles that thousands of leaders and hundreds of thousands of frontline workers have adopted to achieve remarkable results.
--- p.25

I was looking at the three-hour meeting on my schedule that day and wondering whether I should go or not.
As Vice President of Eli Lilly and Company's US office, I was going through a hectic time.
But since it was a meeting hosted by one of our executives, I decided to attend.
I'm still glad I made that decision, because within minutes of the meeting starting, I realized I was onto something special.
A team reported on how they had achieved remarkable results by piloting a new practice known as the "Four Principles."
Not only were these people achieving their goals, but their words and actions were unmistakable 'winners'.
Everyone held their chests straight and their heads high.
As an executive, I wanted to see that kind of performance, and more importantly, I wanted that kind of 'mindset' to spread throughout the organization.
--- p.26

The four principles are easy to say but difficult to put into practice.
The four principles may seem too simple to be true, but they require consistent practice to put into practice.
As one of our clients puts it, “Easier said than done.” Don’t misunderstand this simplicity.
The reason these four principles are so powerful is because they are easy to understand.
However, it takes a long time and considerable effort to successfully implement it.
You have to be constantly immersed.
If the goal you're pursuing isn't something you absolutely must achieve, sustained immersion may not be necessary.
But if you immerse yourself, the rewards are great, not only achieving your goals, but also building the strength and capabilities of your organization to achieve the next goal, and the one after that.
--- p.49

The four principles are counterintuitive.
Each of the four principles represents a paradigm shift and may be counterintuitive.
At first glance, it might seem like having more goals is a good thing, but the more goals you have, the harder it is to achieve them successfully.
If you want to achieve a goal, don't focus on the goal itself, but rather on the leading indicators that drive that goal.
As you put the principles into practice, you may find yourself doing things that seem, at least at first, nonsensical and counterintuitive.
However, what we want to emphasize is that the four principles are the result of serious and careful experimentation and hypotheses that have been tested over many years.
Everything said in this book has been thoroughly vetted.
Once you gain experience implementing these four principles, I promise you that what may seem strange at first will eventually become more comfortable and effective.
--- p.50

The four principles are the operating system.
The four principles are not a menu of four to choose from, but a bundle.
While each principle is valuable, their true power comes when they are put into practice one after the other.
Each principle serves as a foundation for implementing the next principle.
If you leave out one of them, the effect is much less.
Think of the four principles as a computer operating system.
Once installed, you can run any strategy, but the operating system requires a full installation.

--- p.50