Excellence University Journal

Making Your Business AND Your Life More Profitable: The Purposeful Doing Movement

by Dr. Brian Higley | 14 comments

As a business leader, psychologist, and educator, I am often amazed by what seems to me to be an epidemic of anxiety, dissatisfaction, disengagement, and depression in this culture.  From the boardrooms to the classrooms to the therapist’s chair, people seem to be continuously reporting feeling more overwhelmed (“work never seems to end”), less energetic (“I can’t seem to get out of bed without my morning coffee – sometimes two cups!”), and not very hopeful about the future (“oh, well, I guess that’s life – you learn to accept it”).   From time to time, I have felt these feelings myself as I attempt to maintain a satisfying business and personal life – and I’m considered in some circles to be an “expert” on how to run a more efficient business and live a happier life!  What is going on here?  After countless conversations with my colleagues, clients, and other experts in the field, I believe we may have come to a very important answer; one that can positively impact your business and – most importantly, I think – your life in very meaningful ways.  I want to begin this article with a discussion about what I call “The Purposeful Doing Movement.”

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Systemic Solutions to Execution Problems: The Process of Crossing the “Knowing-Doing Gap”

by John Spence | 5 comments

For the past three years I have been invited to be a guest lecturer on “strategic thinking” at a special event at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. Typically I have about 120 senior executives in my class and during the session I will pose this question: “What percentage of the time do companies that have a clear vision and a specific plan to achieve that vision, effectively execute to that plan?” The answer I most often get is 10-15% of the time. Wow, that is scary

This is one of the biggest issues I face in all of my consulting and training assignments. It is what we refer to in our firm as the “Knowing-Doing Gap.” Companies know what they are supposed to do, they have a solid plan to dominate their market – but creating a performance-oriented culture of disciplined execution that can effectively implement the plan seems to be a challenge that few can conquer. If that were not frustrating enough, when you step back and look at the financial implications they can be staggering. Inability to execute to plan is likely responsible for the overwhelming percentage of lost revenues in most large organizations.

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