Great Execution Is the True Measure of Leadership

Imagine going out for a nice dinner only to be served cold food by a surly waiter. Sound unsatisfying? This is the dilemma many organizations face today. Everyone says execution matters. And yet, despite brilliant strategies and innovative products, companies consistently underinvest in it, misunderstand what it actually requires, or treat it as someone else’s problem.

Legendary management guru Peter Drucker is widely credited for saying that “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” This memorable aphorism captured the idea that people have a greater impact on a company’s performance than vision alone.

I think Drucker could have gone even further. Yes, culture eats strategy, but what we really need to talk about is the restaurant. We need to talk about execution.

Execution is everything—from the ambiance to the service to the quality of the food—that creates the dining experience in Drucker’s breakfast. Strategy is the recipe; products and services are the ingredients. The senior staff are the leaders charged with choreographing servers, bussers, hosts, dishwashers, and prep cooks. The systems are everything from cooking utensils and appliances to ordering processes, supply chains, and staff training.

What will we take away from our dining experience if the breakfast is delicious, but the service is lousy? Conversely, will we really want to come back to a restaurant with a beautiful room and attentive servers if the croissants are limp and the eggs are cold? When execution fails, the whole experience suffers, regardless of the talent, vision, or intent that went into it.

The restaurant analogy illustrates how hard it is to execute well. In business, execution can be complex, intricate, and technical. It is decidedly unsexy, and even out of fashion because it implies a certain uniformity of thought and priorities. And yet, without crisp execution, great ideas never reach fruition. In a world where every problem has at least a half dozen companies trying to solve it, success belongs not to the firm with the most innovative idea, but the one that gets a good enough idea to market.

As the title of this article implies, I believe execution matters most. For all the hype and hubris we see from so many leaders—the glimmer and gloss, the fluff and fanfare, the pretense and posturing—the only attribute that’s real and leads to lasting success is one’s ability to deliver. Great execution isn’t just a “nice to have”; it’s a vital part of being a great executive.

In this article, I explore why execution is undervalued, and share the framework that has guided how I operate—both as an executive in the companies I’ve led and in my advisory work with growth-stage businesses. As you read this, ask yourself: Is my organization serving a five-star meal in a one-star setting?

Let’s dig in.

Why execution is so hard to get right

There is nothing like a restaurant in terms of work experience. They are veritable hives of activity. With every diner, the restaurant has one goal: to provide an experience so satisfying that the customer might like to return. To do this, the staff must deliver an outcome whose logistics are part science, part ballet. The meal needs to be delicious; customers need to be treated well, their orders taken and delivered with efficiency and grace; and the place setting and dining room need to live up to expectations.

Success is the culmination of literally dozens of different factors, most of which are seen only by the people who have direct responsibility for them. Those factors are shaped by hundreds of decisions taken every day by people whose experiences and training vary wildly. This is their execution.

It is the same in business. Whatever the vision of our own “restaurants,” the combination of tactics, marketing, sales, operations, and product development is the choreography our companies perform in the hope of satisfying and retaining their customers.

The Four Factors of Execution

While the details of execution can be intricate, the concepts are easy to understand. There are four key factors: Vision, People, Structure, and Conversations. Each operates at two levels—what we as leaders need to do, and what our organizations need to ensure.

Vision is the strategic framework that guides an organization’s long-term objectives and provides a sense of direction. As leaders, we need to ensure our own alignment with the company’s vision, understand how we contribute to it, and be clear on our individual roles and goals. The organization, meanwhile, must define a coherent strategy and roadmap—and articulate it clearly enough that people can actually follow it. Without this, even talented teams end up rowing in different directions.

People are the human capital whose skills, behaviors, and engagement are critical for executing any strategy. Our job as leaders is to ensure we fit the culture we’re trying to build, to cultivate our own leadership qualities, and to engage and motivate those around us. The organization’s job is harder: ensuring that top-down and bottom-up cultures actually align, hiring and retaining great managers, promoting the right behaviors, and monitoring engagement before it erodes. In my experience, this is where most companies fall short—not because they don’t care about people, but because they underestimate how much active work it takes to get this right.

Structure—or systems—is the operational scaffolding within which all tasks are carried out. This includes workflows, organizational design, roles and responsibilities, and the processes that connect them. Leaders need to manage their own productivity, ensure their teams’ workflows are efficient, and integrate effectively with the rest of the organization. The organization must articulate a target operating model, promote efficient processes, and build in enough flexibility to adapt when conditions change. The goal isn’t maximum structure—it’s the right structure. Enough to guide decisions and ensure consistency, but not so much that it chokes the business or smothers the people doing the work.

Conversations—or communication—is the essential two-way flow of information that makes all organizational activities possible. Leaders need to be receptive to feedback, communicate effectively in both tone and content, and actively listen. The organization needs to enable feedback processes, ensure leaders actually communicate clearly, and promote inter-departmental dialogue. This last one is particularly important. I’ve seen more initiatives die from poor cross-functional communication than from bad strategy.

These four categories are inextricably linked, each influencing and reinforcing the others. A clear Vision is necessary to engage and motivate People. Effective Conversations can often be the catalyst for smoother Structure. While you can work on one factor in isolation, it’s important to think through how actions in one area interact with the others.

By framing execution this way, we dispel the most popular misconception about its nature: that execution is concerned only with process and the proverbial assembly line by which tasks get done. This perception is not only limiting but incorrect—and it’s exactly what Drucker was getting at with his famous adage. Execution is both a mechanical function and an organic one, where interpersonal dynamics and seemingly intangible factors exist alongside concrete processes and metrics. You can’t simply “set and forget” an execution strategy; it requires constant adjustment and fine-tuning, just like a high-performance engine.

This framework also gives us insight into misconceptions about culture. Culture is not the values printed on the wall. Culture is not exclusively people-related. And perhaps most importantly, culture is not an input. You don’t “set your culture.” Your culture is an expression of every aspect of execution: the vision and the visionaries, the people and their interactions, the structures that guide them, and the conversations that happen within those structures.

The key thing to understand about culture is that it is endogenous: over time, it is both driver and outcome of great execution. It shapes how the company executes, and conversely, execution can either solidify and enrich the culture—or consistently degrade it.

Execution is ultimately about getting the right people to do the right things at the right time across the entire company. With accelerating technological advancements and rising customer expectations, the cost of poor execution is higher than ever. In a crowded marketplace where everyone has access to similar resources and technologies, execution can easily become the defining factor that sets one organization apart from the rest.

Execution is existential

We can trace the rising importance of execution to two rather obvious trends. The first has to do with technology. This isn’t just about gadgets, software, or the web; it’s about a fundamental transformation in how work gets done. Technology has penetrated every business function, effectively replacing manual tasks and dramatically altering traditional processes. If German philosopher Martin Heidegger were analyzing today’s business world, he might say that “technicity” has become an existential part of our modern working life. Put differently, technology is not just a tool we use, but an integral part of how we understand and interact with the world—including our work. This change has amplified the importance of execution as we interact with increasingly complex systems and processes.

The second is that the line between B2B and B2C is blurring, at least in terms of expectations. Today’s clients, even in a B2B setting, are increasingly demanding consumer-level experiences—frictionless, intuitive, and delightful. They are used to seamless transactions in their everyday lives, and they expect nothing less in their professional interactions.

This potent mix of rising customer expectations and technical complexity has elevated great execution to table stakes in today’s business landscape. Companies simply can’t afford to neglect their delivery. If they do, they can be certain a competitor will seize the opportunity to do it better.

If great execution is this important, then, why aren’t people and companies more focused on it?

Execution in the era of Instagram

We have already said that execution is intricate, multi-dimensional, and technical. This explains a good part of why companies struggle with it. But it goes further. I believe interest in execution is declining as a consequence of our societal fixation on dreamers and visionaries.

Collectively, we are enamored with entrepreneurs who promise to change the world. The narrative surrounding them glorifies their audacious ideas and the utopian workplaces they create, where life’s problems are solved and employees are happy, fulfilled, and self-actualized thanks to unlimited vacations and free gym memberships.

Social media likes success stories, where people pop champagne corks and celebrate wins. But more often than not, the true story is very different. As most founders will candidly admit, unless you’ve started a business yourself, you’ll never truly grasp how hard it is to make it. The dream is never the problem: it’s the doing. The challenges tied to execution are messy and daunting. Success—which is a matter of if, not when—typically comes after years of setbacks and failures.

So, for the most part, these challenges are ignored or glossed over. When they are shared, the stories often land at one extreme or the other on the continuum of “hustle porn.” On one end, you see people boasting of morning rituals where, by 7 a.m., they have already meditated, walked the dog, worked out, taken the kids to school, and performed community service. At the other extreme are the burn-out stories of people who chased a dream only to realize it was someone else’s—and now want to share their cautionary tale.

Suffice it to say that the models we see of charisma and passion alone paving the way to success are not just misleading; they are dangerously far from the truth.

Professional populism?

Another trend shaping attitudes about execution is a growing skepticism—and even rejection—of authority figures and hierarchical institutions. Spurred by both political movements and broader societal shifts, people are calling for flatter organizations, greater autonomy, and more individual control over work.

While these are valid aspirations, they create an inherent tension: How do you reconcile the need for distributed power with the necessities of focused, disciplined execution? Effective execution ultimately requires coordination and oversight that inherently involves some form of hierarchy—if not of people, then of priorities. How do decisions get made under conditions of disagreement? We’re not really going to take a vote, are we?

This form of “professional populism,” if we can call it that, has put new demands on leaders. We must foster an environment where individuals feel empowered but are not aimless, guided but not micromanaged—where we harness individual agency and creativity toward a common goal while deftly balancing personalities and complexity to achieve the company’s priorities.

Piece of cake.

Conclusion

Just as a restaurant requires more than a great chef to succeed, a business needs more than a vision to thrive. It demands a holistic, nuanced approach to execution—an orchestra of well-timed actions, from the kitchen to the dining room, that delivers a delightful experience to every diner.

The framework I’ve set out here provides a blueprint for ensuring that your “restaurant” runs smoothly. It reminds us that the chef needs both an engaged kitchen staff and a front-of-house team that shares the vision, works seamlessly together, and communicates effectively. Whether you’re a Michelin-starred establishment or a mom-and-pop diner, failing in any of these key areas can make the difference between a repeat customer and a one-star review.

It also reminds us that, even if we are doing it well now, execution is an ongoing effort. Just like a restaurant continually updates its menu, trains its staff, and refurbishes its dining area, your business should also be in a state of dynamic improvement. The landscape of business, like that of fine dining, is always changing. Consumer tastes evolve, new technologies emerge, and the market itself undergoes periodic transformations.

Keeping your execution sharp means continuously adapting—refining Vision, developing People, improving Structure, and enriching Conversations—so that you can build a five-star business.