By Mike Myatt, Chief StrategyOfficer, N2growth



I'm going old-school with today's message - it's going tobe direct, and to the point...focus onperformance. One of my pet peeves is the voluminousamount of management speak and self-help propaganda currently incirculation designed to codify a lack of performance. I'm anindividual that believes in clear and direct communication, so I'llspare you the rhetoric and just do what I do best...cut to thechase. Put simply, the formula for success, what trulydifferentiates you, is that you either PERFORM oryour don't. The text that follows is not going to nurtureyou, nor will it serve as a disingenuous pat on theback...I'm not going to tell you what a nice person you are, but Iam going to ask you to lose the excuses, rationalizations,justifications, platitudes, theories, and spin and just get the jobdone. This message is about zeroing-in on themain difference between the impact players and thewannabes...its called delivering a certainty of execution. Don'tgive me excuses...give me results. See if this rings true...haveyou ever noticed that it seems to be those soothsayers who canwax eloquent in the planning stages, that always just seem to fallflat on their face when it comes to the implementation? Again,in an effort to keep it simple, don't tell me; show me! A greatstrategy that cannot be executed is not a great strategy atall...it is a failed strategy. Let me put it this way...It's prettydarn hard to look smart if you cannot deliver the goods. Think of any successful leader and you'll find they consistentlyget the job done. They accomplish the mission; they find a way towin; they execute. Sadly, all it really takes to stand out intoday's business world is to follow through on your commitments. Itdoesn't matter where you went to school, how smart you are, whatyour title is, or any number of other considerations...if you wantto succeed, learn to honor your commitments and execute. Thebest advice I can give you is to immediately cease and desistfrom majoring in minors, learn to harness your passion, leverageyour resources, be disciplined in your approach, and always focuson performance. Contrasted with an earlier statement above, it'shard to appear as anything other than smart when you are a masterof execution and performance. Few things speakto a leader's ability like consistently putting points onthe scoreboard...