The 4 Disciplines of

Execution by Chris
McChesney | Book
Summary by Paul
Minors

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INTRODUCTION

Who is this summary for?

The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney is an excellent guide to
removing the distractions of the day-to-day tasks in your day job and being able to
focus on ‘Wildly Important Goals' and execute these excellently. McChesney
produces a straightforward and actionable step-by-step guide that could transform
the way you and your team work. Great for anyone looking for a little bit of guidance
in the workplace and particularly useful for anyone in a leadership position.

About the author

Chris McChesney began his career working with Stephen R. Covey within the
Franklin Covey organisation. McChesney has dedicated his work to helping
organisations achieve the results they are after by improving their execution. His
book, The 4 Disciplines of Execution has been hugely successful and was a Wall
Street Journal #1 National Best Seller. McChesney has become well known for his
high-energy keynote speeches and presentations. McChesney lives with his wife and
has seven children.

In this summary
As the title suggests, McChesney outlines what he considers to be the 4 most
important disciplines for executing tasks and hitting goals. This summary will cover
each of the 4 disciplines and discuss how they can be enacted. The first discipline we
will cover is focusing on the wildly important. Discipline two covers acting on the
lead measures followed by discipline three: keeping a compelling scoreboard.
Finally, we’ll cover discipline four: creating a cadence of accountability.

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BOOK SUMMARY

”One of the key reasons that 4 Disciplines of Execution works so powerfully is

that it’s based on timeless, inviolable principles; and it’s proven to work with
virtually any organisation in any environment.”

DISCIPLINE 1: FOCUS ON THE WILDLY IMPORTANT

McChesney’s first discipline is dedicated to focusing all of your attention and effort
on only the things that are wildly important. By selecting only one or two key goals,
and dedicating all of your energy to those you are destined to have greater success
and executer better than if you were trying to spread yourself too thin across too
many things. McChesney explains that focus is the starting point for execution. You
need to learn where your focus is before you can move forward.

”Discipline 1 is about applying more energy against fewer goals because,

when it comes to setting goals, the law of diminishing returns is as real as the
law of gravity.”

One at a time
McChesney explains that as humans, we are designed to be able to work on one
thing at a time and excel at it. We are not designed to multi-task. Scientifically, our
brains are designed to only truly focus on one thing at a time. As soon as you try to
add more ‘focus points’ your vision becomes blurry and nothing will get your full
attention.

Unfortunately, McChesney points out that the nature of our fast-paced society today
encourages a culture of multitasking. We work hard at skimming, scanning, and
multitasking. The skills used for reading, deep thought, and sustained concentration
are not being practiced enough and we are losing our capacity to focus.

Wildly important goals

Although McChesney encourages you to have one wildly important goal at a time,
he expresses the importance of being aware that you do have other priorities. It’s not
about letting the rest go completely, just putting them to the side so you can focus

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on one at a time. These other goals are always going to remain on your radar, they
just won’t be receiving your full attention at this time.

When you select a wildly important goal, you need to look for the goal you are
willing to put all your effort into, to work on every single day and make difficult
choices. The aim is to work on this goal with extreme diligence until it is completed
and you have achieved what you were after.

Leaders
McChesney acknowledges that there tends to be more pressure placed on people
to expand their goals rather than actually narrow them. The popular school of
thought is that more goals and bigger goals are better. But the reality is that
narrowing your focus is going to yield better results.

Leaders often express this issue as a result of continuously noticing things that need
to be improved and recognising new opportunities regularly. Leaders often express
a feeling of overwhelm with multiple things on their plate at once.

However, McChesney points out that the issue is the leader themselves. Although
acknowledging issues and recognising opportunities is good and beneficial, it
doesn’t mean you need to try and split your attention between all of these things at
any one time. It’s still important to be aware of core priorities and identify the ones
that need your attention the most.

Leaders, take note

McChesney identifies a few things that leaders should be aware of when managing
their teams:

1. If you are an ambitious or creative leader, then you are always going to
do more. Consider that this could be why you push your team to take on
too much work and feel overworked.

2. Another issue that leaders often face is hedging their bets. In fearing
failure, you encourage you team to try everything assuming that
something may work. Instead of focusing on volume, get your team to
focus all of their attention on one option, and know that you put
everything into it. You’re more likely to find success this way.

3. The prime issue that leaders face when trying to narrow goals is the
struggle of rejecting good ideas. It feels unnatural for a leader to turn

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 away opportunities that present themselves but McChesney explains that
this is sometimes necessary if you want to pursue the RIGHT goals.

”As Stephen R. Covey says, “You have to decide what your highest priorities
are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, unapologetically—to say no to
other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger ‘yes’ burning
inside.”

Selecting your wildly important goals

”Narrow your focus to one or two wildly important goals and consistently
invest the team’s time and energy into them. In other words, if you want high-
focus, high-performance team members, they must have something wildly
important to focus on.”

To determine what wildly important goal you (and your team) are going to focus on
can be a difficult task. Sometimes, the answer will be obvious but at other times you
will struggle to pick just one. McChesney explains that you’ll often feel bombarded
with multiple ‘urgent priorities’ and it can be hard to narrow the focus down to just
one.

McChesney explains that in your selection, it shouldn’t be about asking what the
most important is. Instead, consider your current situation, the current level of
performance your team is outputting and try to identify one area where change
would have the most significant impact. If you can find that one area, then you’ve
found your wildly important goal.

The goal will likely be one of two things. Either something that’s broken and needs
to be fixed or be something new altogether, a new product or service perhaps.

Expanding this to an entire organisation

McChesney has focused on discussing goals in relation to a leader and a team,
however, he also emphasises the importance of rolling this new discipline out to an
entire organisation. The larger scale can be daunting but the rewards will be worth it.
He has a few rules that he recommends you follow when trying to narrow the focus
of an entire organisation:

1. Each team has a MAXIMUM of 2 wildly important goals

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2. The battles you choose must win the war.

3. Your senior leaders should not be dictators, but they have the power of
veto.

4. All wildly important goals need to have the following formula including a
deadline: X & Y by Z.

”Discipline 1 takes the wildly important goal for an organization and breaks it
down into a set of specific, measurable targets until every team has a wildly
important goal that it can own. “

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DISCIPLINE 2: ACT ON THE LEAD MEASURES

McChesney describes discipline 2 as the discipline of leverage, it’s about applying

the majority of your energy, time and resources only to the activities that truly drive
your lead measures. A lead measure is the ‘measure’ of all tasks that are directly
related to achieving the defined goal. The aim of discipline 2 is to identify the tasks
and actions that are most likely to help you and your team reach the goal.

Lag measures vs. lead measures.

McChesney defines a lag measure as an indicator of when you have achieved the
goal. Whereas the lead measure will inform you of the likelihood of you reaching the
goal. Lead measures are predictive and entirely within your control, and at any point,
if you are informed that you are unlikely to reach your goal, you can do something
about it. But by the time you reach the lag measure stage, it’s usually too late. You
either have or haven’t achieved the goal. When a lead measure changes, it’s likely
that the lag measure will be influenced.

McChesney uses a car breaking down to explain the two in a simpler way. How often
your car breaks down is outside of your control, it is the lag measure. However, you
can do something about maintaining your car and ensure that it gets done regularly.
This is the lead measure. The more feedback you receive and act upon the lead
measure, the less likely your car is to break down.

Break it down
It’s really important to establish what the most important actions to enable those lead
measures are on a regular basis. Too often organisations establish long-term plans
that are rigid. This doesn’t allow for the fluidity of projects that are constantly
changing. By checking in daily or weekly, you give yourself and your team the ability
to identify what needs to be done right now in order to drive the lead measures.

Unfortunately, McChesney points out that leaders spend the majority of their energy
focusing on the lag measures and forgo the importance of a lead measure. This
holds them back significantly because lag measure simply cannot be changed.

”We see this syndrome every day all over the world and in every area of life.
The sales leader fixates on total sales, the service leader fixates on customer
satisfaction, parents fixate on their children’s grades, and dieters fixate on the

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 scale. And, in virtually every case, fixating solely on the lag measures fails to
drive results.”

Leverage
McChesney explains that there’s one key principle behind good lead measures and
that’s leverage. Without leverage, you won’t be able to move forward despite your
best efforts. He explains that effort simply isn’t enough, but lead measures act as a
leaver, giving you the ability to move forward and reach those goals.

Unfortunately, the lead measure data is harder to find that the lag measure data,
making your job a little bit more difficult. However, McChesney emphasises again
the importance of tracking your lead measures. He explains that he sees too many
people and teams struggle with this, realising that getting the data is hard work.
When realising how much work is required, they often don’t pursue the data at all.
This is a real problem and something you need to avoid doing. No matter how hard,
you have to pursue the lead measure data.

”Without data, you can’t drive performance on the lead measures; without
lead measures, you don’t have leverage.”

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DISCIPLINE 3: KEEP A COMPELLING
SCOREBOARD

McChesney’s third discipline emphasises the importance of ensuring that everyone

is always aware of the score. This is important because everyone needs to know
whether they are on the right track or not at all times. McChesney calls this the
discipline of engagement.

He explains that there is a difference between understanding the concept of lead

and lag measures and actually knowing the score. If the lead and lag measures are
not recorded and relayed to all team members, then they will quickly be forgotten.
It’s so important to ensure that everyone knows the score, can see it visually and
understands what this means. Knowing the score is going to keep you and your team
engaged and propelling forwards.

The scoreboard
It’s important to be able to visually see the score, both for yourself and all other team
members. Your scoreboard needs to be clear and outline the data in a simple and
easy to understand way. It’s important that everyone understands the numbers, not
just the leader. The key purpose of a scoreboard is to motivate the team. A couple of
things to keep in mind when designing your scoreboard are the following:

- Ensure it is simple. Only have necessary data on display and ensure that at
a glance everyone can understand it.

- Make it as visible as possible to everyone. Visibility equals a constant

reminder

- Show lead AND lag measures.

- Are you winning? You need to be able to tell within a 5-second glance if
you are on the right track.

Be in it to win it
McChesney identifies the concept of not feeling as if it is possible to win as one of
the most demoralising. He emphasises the importance of team morale being as high

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as possible, everyone should be playing to win, not simply playing to survive and get
through the day.

”In essence, you and your team make a bet that you can move the lead
measures and that those lead measures will move the lag measure. When it
starts to work, even people who have shown little interest become very
engaged as the entire team starts to see that they are winning, often for the
first time. Keep in mind that their engagement is not because the
organisation is winning, or even that you as their leader are winning: it’s
because they are winning.”

Engagement
McChesney poses the question; does engagement drive results or do results drive
engagement? Most people believe the former. However, McChesney believes that
results are what truly drives engagement. When a team can identify their actions as
having a significant impact on the results, then their engagement is going to soar.

McChesney explains that morale and engagement are significantly effected by

people feeling as if they are winning. He identifies winning as having a more
significant affect than any money, bonus, working conditions or even the likability of
the people you work with.

”Scoreboards can be a powerful way to engage employees. A motivating

players’ scoreboard not only drives results but uses the visible power of
progress to instil the mindset of winning.”

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DISCIPLINE 4: CREATE A CADENCE OF
ACCOUNTABILITY

McChesney’s fourth and final discipline as one of accountability. He emphasises the

importance of having a consistent way to track past performance and plan for the
future. The first three disciplines have been dedicated to ‘setting up the game’ but as
McChesney explains, that fourth discipline is where the action happens. It’s designed
to bring teams together and help them to operate at a top level with significant
accountability. Any team that lacks accountability will find people losing focus,
getting distracted and disagreements over what is really important.

”Disciplines 1, 2, and 3 bring focus, clarity, and engagement, which are

powerful and necessary elements for your success. But with Discipline 4, you
and your team ensure that the goal is achieved no matter what is going on
around you.”

WIG sessions
McChesney highlights the importance of teams having weekly WIG (Wildly
Important Goal) sessions. A WIG session is a twenty-to-thirty minute meeting with a
pre-arranged agenda designed to re-focus on accountability. McChesney strongly
believes that this kind of meeting is what makes the difference between a team
failing and a team winning. These meetings are designed to hold each team
member accountable for their dedicated tasks, all with the aim of moving the lead
measures. McChesney explains that there are few rules that must be enacted in these
WIG sessions.

1. Always be consistent with your WIG sessions. Hold these on the same day
and at the same time each week. Establish a predictable routine so that
everyone always knows what to expect and when to expect it. And never
miss a WIG session, even if one person can’t make it, hold it without them.
Missing a week will have a significant effect on team accountability and
therefore results.

2. Limit the WIG session discussion to only actions and results directly
related to the scoreboard. Do not allow any distractions and remain
focused only on the task at hand. This will ensure that the sessions are

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 fast, seamless and everyone walks away knowing exactly what is expected
of them.

3. Don’t go over the maximum time of thirty minutes. You want your
sessions to be fast and efficient.

4. Have a clear agenda. Start with a brief report on commitments. Then

review the scoreboard, identifying successes and failures. Finally, plan the
new commitments and direction.

5. Have everyone prepare for the meeting. Encourage every team member
to think about the same question each week: “what are the one or two
most important things I can do this week to impact the lead measures?”

Use the time to troubleshoot

The WIG session is the ideal time for your team to discuss what isn’t working (and
what is). Take the time to be creative and open to new suggestions if you are
struggling. Identify all obstacles that are in your way and discuss how you can
overcome these. Talking about issues out loud with the whole team can help you
come to solutions quicker than if you were working alone. And more often than not,
another team member will have the ability to help with your obstacle.

Black vs. grey

McChesney introduces the concept of visualising your working day in two blocks of
colours. Black represents time dedicated to working on the wildly important goal
and grey represents all other day-to-day tasks. McChesney explains that the majority
of your working day will be represented by the colour grey. But the thing you need
to avoid is having your entire week coloured grey. You need to ensure that there are
blocks of black regularly. And this is something that your WIG session will help
determine. By holding these weekly sessions, you and your team will ensure that
black remains in the schedule and keeps you accountable.

”WIG sessions are the antidote to all-grey weeks. When the discipline of
holding WIG sessions is sustained—when you and your team force the black
into the grey every week—not only will you make consistent progress toward
your goals, you’ll also begin to feel that you, rather than the whirlwind, are in
charge.”

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Disengagement
McChesney identifies a few reasons that team members become disengaged from
their work. The first is anonymity. If someone feels that their leaders don’t recognise
the work that they are doing, their engagement and motivation suffer significantly.
The second reason is that a team member may feel irrelevant. If it’s not clear what
the impact of the work they do is on the results then they are likely to feel
insignificant and unmotivated. Finally, team members who cannot measure and
asses their work struggle to understand their relevance and contributions.

So the goal of regular WIG sessions should be to address each of these three
disengagement issues. Ensure that each team member feels recognised and
acknowledge. Clearly identify how the work they are doing leads to the end results
and give them the tools required to measure and assess their own work (this is
where the scoreboard comes in).

”The WIG session encourages experimentation with fresh ideas. It engages

everyone in problem-solving and promotes shared learning. It’s a forum for
innovative insights as to how to move the lead measures, and because so
much is at stake, it brings out the best thinking from every team member.”

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CONCLUSION

Key takeaways
- Discipline 1 is dedicated to focusing all of your attention and effort on
only the things that are wildly important.

- Select one or two key goals that you can dedicate all of your energy to.

- By focusing only on key goals you are destined to have greater success
and executer better than if you were trying to spread yourself too thin.

- Discipline 2 is the discipline of leverage.

- It’s about applying the majority of your energy, time and resources only to
the activities that truly drive your lead measures.

- A lead measure is the ‘measure’ of all tasks that are directly related to
achieving the defined goal.

- The aim of discipline 2 is to identify the tasks and actions that are most
likely to help you and your team reach the goal.

- Discipline 3 emphasises the importance of ensuring that everyone is

always aware of the score.

- This is important because everyone needs to know whether they are on

the right track or not at all times.

- Ensure that the scoreboard is visual, clear and easy to understand.

- Discipline 4 is about accountability.

- It’s important to have a consistent way to track past performance and plan
for the future.

- This is where weekly WIG sessions come in. Get your team to sit down
together once a week for maximum 30 minutes to assess how you are
getting on with pursuing the WIG.

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Further reading
McChesney talks a lot about focusing on only one significant goal. This concept is
something that Greg McKeown talks a lot about in his book Essentialism. This is a
must read for people interested in productivity and getting more done. It’s a real
eye-opener which challenges you to think about what’s important and how you’re
spending your time. The book guides you through the process of saying “no” to the
“trivial many” so you can focus more on the “essential few”. Similarly, The ONE
Thing by Gary Keller is a must-read for anyone interested in productivity and
personal improvement. This book clearly defines why productivity is the perfect
vehicle for getting what you want and living an extraordinary life.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey explores a number of

paradigms, principles and habits that can help you become more productive,
whether that be as an individual, as part of an organisation or a business. Another
similar read is Getting Things Done by David Allen is arguably the world’s most well
known book on productivity. The lessons in this book should be considered essential
reading for anyone looking to pursue a more productive lifestyle.

Guidelines is my eBook that summarises the main lessons from 33 of the best-selling
self-help books in one place. It is the ultimate book summary; Available as a 80-page
ebook and 115-minute audio book. Guidelines lists 31 rules (or guidelines) that you
should follow to improve your productivity, become a better leader, do better in
business, improve your health, succeed in life and become a happier person. 

Action steps
- Start to minimise your goals and focus on only one or two important ones
at a time.

- Learn how to introduce some accountability to your work and your team.
Create your own ‘scoreboard’ and clearly identify whether everyone is on
track and winning.

- As a leader it’s a great idea to start implementing weekly WIG sessions.

- Download the complete book from Amazon.

This summary is not intended as a replacement for the original book and all quotes
are credited to the above mentioned author and publisher.

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