“Publishing a book is like stuffing a note into a bottle and hurling it into the sea. Some bottles drown, some come safe to land, where the notes are read and then possibly cherished, or else misinterpreted, or else understood all too well by those who hate the message. You never know who your readers might be.” ― Margaret Atwood

There is no strategy without execution, and there is no execution without leadership!

Even though several hundred copies have been out to clients and colleagues for the past month, I can finally announce that my newest business publication FASTBREAK: The CEO’s Guide to Strategy Execution, is finally available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

I am looking forward to hearing comments from readers and seeing the reviews add up on Amazon.  Just the other day I received this note from a former client:

John:  Thanks so much for sending a copy of your book: Fastbreak – The CEO’s Guide to Strategy Execution.

I noticed that the illustration on pg 184 portrayed some of our early strategic planning templates on restoring Lycoming to its former legendary market dominance and righting its profitability as well.

I thought you might appreciate that Lycoming’s  journey to “Premier Status” in our industry includes some significant milestones, including the Shingo Prize(Enterprise), industry leading quality, world-class customer response times, a “break even” reduced by $50 Million and as a result, profitability.  Moreover, we are entering new markets and winning new customers because “execution” has become our trademark.  Thanks for your help in making it so.

 Don Wagner, VP Operations, Lycoming Engines   

I had great fun writing this book because it allowed me to review the past 35 years of consulting assignments, CEO advisory, senior team strategy workshops, culture change engagements, and discussions with business and professional leaders around the world. In 1980 we supported the new leadership team at Three Mile Island as they created a new culture built on safety. In Hong Kong in 1996, a year  before the handover, we talked about accountability with executives from mainland China.  In 2007 we supported Textron Systems Company in the acquisition of a premier UAV maker, AAI Corporation.  And all along the way we have made friends and learned far more than we ever imagined (and collected millions of frequent flier miles).

This book is not an academic treatise on strategy execution, but rather a senior level guide with key points, principles, case studies, and suggestions.  Also, it contains the FASTBREAK Strategy Execution Roadmap process, which you might find useful in thinking through and organizing your current strategic objectives. My objective with this new book is to rethink the traditional way strategy is formulated and delivered, to provide a more effective approach and framework.

CEOs and business leaders today are pulled in multiple directions, seemingly all at once, and often find it difficult to align and focus all the various business initiatives. And in today’s highly competitive global marketplace, distractions can prove fatal to effective strategy execution. FASTBREAK brings together leadership, culture and strategy execution into an integrated and robust business process and has proven to be an effective way to improve transparency, goal alignment, governance, accountability and strategic focus.  For those companies intent on delivering growth and profitability, FASTBREAK represents a highly effective way of managing the business.

I hope you will take a look, purchase a copy, share it with your management team and colleagues, and most importantly, take whatever insights you can from this book and implement them into your organisation.  And of course, drop me a note with your feedback.  Better yet, write a review and post it on Amazon.

“Write from the heart. A book without a pulse is like a person without a spirit.” ― Linda F. Radke

Tight Lines . . .

John R. Childress

john@johnrchildress.com