Business Craft | Teaching Execution

Throwback Thursday | 5 minute read

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Full Value Sub
September 05, 2024

Throwback Thursday posts are from a group of emails titled “Business Craft”. Some of which will be reposted here so they can be reviewed by the original recipients, or read for the first time.

Business often takes inspiration from great coaches. Consider: 

  • “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” – Jackie Robinson. 

  • “Success is never final, failure is never fatal, and it’s courage that counts.” - John Wooden

  • “The only correct actions are those that demand no explanation and no apology.” - Red Auerbach 

  • “Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” - Vince Lombardi 

  • “People who live in the past generally are afraid to compete in the present.” - Sparky Anderson 

Great coaches build winning culture by teaching how to execute fundamentals. Great coaches create great coaching trees. For example: 

“Augie Garrido is widely regarded as one of the best to ever fill a lineup card at the college level. Garrido coached a few talented players and assistant coaches during his time at Texas and Cal State Fullerton. 

One of Garrido’s assistants, Skip Johnson, is now the manager of the Oklahoma Sooners. He said the following about his experience as Garrido’s pitching coach in the 2009 College World Series: 

“We get ready for the first game… he did not talk about winning or losing the game. He talked about executing. He talked about getting bunts down. He talked about first pitch strikes. He talked about playing good catch, and we won on a walk off walk. I mean, how does that happen? … It was about executing your game plan.” 

Both the Sooners and Longhorns have overcome adversity with that mindset this season. After a slow start the Sooners are playing as good as anyone. The Longhorns similarly erased what seemed like an insurmountable 7-2 lead against East Carolina last week.” 

CEO and Coaches teach strategy and execution. Teaching execution is not as exciting as teaching strategy. Teaching execution is often neglected. The best strategy cannot be achieved with consistent execution.  

Mission Statements cannot be achieved without consistent execution. Positive Momentum cannot be supported without consistent execution. Corporate philanthropy or other social agendas cannot be supported without consistent execution. Opportunities for stakeholders cannot be provided without consistent execution. Scaling cannot be achieved without consistent execution. Dreams and goals die without consistent execution.  

Consistent execution means submitting clear proposals that meet the objectives of the prospective client. Consistent execution means staying within your core competency. Consistent execution means following processes and procedures. Consistent execution means tweaking processes and procedures when they cannot be followed efficiently. Consistent execution means clearly communicating with your team members in terms and context they can understand. Consistent execution is required to nurture and respect positive momentum required to sustainably scale companies quickly. These are the bunts, walks, and singles that build momentum necessary to sustainably scale a company.  

Teach execution. Respect and nurture momentum. Create a great executive tree so these values can be carried on into the future. Full value exits are achieved by building a company that can continue with the next man up. Full value exits are the best scenario for all stakeholders. The stakeholders of Texas and OU baseball continue to enjoy the benefits provided by the principals taught by Augie Garrido.