Simon & Schuster and FranklinCovey Release Revised and Updated 2nd Edition of The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals

With More Than 500,000 Sold, The #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller Offers 30 Percent New Content: The Book That No Leader Can Afford to Miss

Franklin Covey Co. (NYSE: FC), a global firm specializing in organizational performance improvement, and Simon & Schuster today announced the release of the revised and updated 2^nd edition of The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals. The book is co-authored by Chris McChesney, Global Practice Leader of Execution for FranklinCovey; Sean Covey, President of FranklinCovey Education; Jim Huling, Global Managing Consultant, FranklinCovey’s 4 Disciplines of Execution; with Beverly Walker, former Commissioner, Department of Human Services, State of Georgia and Director, Department of Children and Family Services, State of Illinois; and Scott Thele, National Practice Leader, FranklinCovey’s Business Outcomes Practice.

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The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals - 2nd Edition: Revised and Updated (Photo: Business Wire)

With more than 500,000 copies sold, the #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller is the book that no leader can afford to miss. With 30 percent new content, this edition adds new principles, practices, case studies, exercises, and tips leaders can employ to effectively deal with the most difficult aspect of creating breakthrough results: executing on a strategy that requires a change in behavior, at scale. Leaders will learn about the detailed process of how they can inspire and implement organization-wide behavior change, so that every individual and team is contributing toward flawless execution on key strategic goals.

“While nearly every company struggles with making change happen, The 4 Disciplines of Execution represents a repeatable, proven formula for executing on an organization’s most important, strategic priorities,” said Chris McChesney, co-author and Global Practice Leader of Execution for FranklinCovey. “As leaders read this edition, they’ll receive an overview of the proven practices that represent a new way of thinking, which is essential to thriving in today’s competitive climate. It’s not just a theory, as this process has been tested, refined and implemented by thousands of teams in FranklinCovey client organizations worldwide. We know that when organizations adhere to this formula and process, superb results will occur, regardless of the goals.”

In the book, the authors share that while it’s one thing to establish strategic or ‘Wildly Important Goals’ – goals that must be achieved, or nothing else matters – it’s quite another thing to execute on them. The 4 Disciplines directly addresses the challenge of executing in the middle of the ‘Whirlwind’—the massive amount of energy necessary just to keep an organization running on a day-to-day basis. The Whirlwind is the enemy of strategic execution.

“It’s easy to say you’re going to achieve goals around a new strategy, but it’s extremely hard to do,” said Sean Covey, President of FranklinCovey Education. “While leaders know that achieving their organization’s Wildly Important Goals is vital, the Whirlwind is urgent, and that urgency wins out most of the time. The 4 Disciplines of Execution highlights the process of separating these goals from the Whirlwind to achieve breakthrough results, while still sustaining the urgent work necessary to keep the organization running. This process is challenging to apply and sustain because it requires people to work differently than they normally do. But it definitely works, and the book is the first step toward that end.”

For nearly 20 years, the authors and the FranklinCovey Execution Practice have studied why execution so often fails, what can be done to fix it, and what it takes to achieve Wildly Important Goals. They have worked with thousands of organizations and more than 100,000 teams around the world in business, government and education in implementing the content and process, which are changing how teams and organizations achieve their most important goals.

With organizations spending more than $30 billion annually on strategy creation and more than 80 percent of them failing, FranklinCovey’s The 4 Disciplines of Execution book, methodology and solution provide the framework for organizations seeking to increase strategic execution by creating a culture of high performance. While The 4 Disciplines of Execution are sequential and interdependent, they must be done in order and done well to achieve extraordinary results:

1. Focus on the Wildly Important: Give best efforts to those few goals that really matter, instead of giving mediocre effort to dozens of goals.
2. Act on Lead Measures: Carefully track the lead measures and let the lag measures take care of themselves.
3. Keep a Compelling Scoreboard: Ensure everyone knows the score at all times, so they can tell if they are winning or not.
4. Create a Cadence of Accountability: Hold frequent, regular accountability sessions to advance the Wildly Important Goals.

The framework of The 4 Disciplines focuses on leaders engaging individuals and teams to align their efforts in doing the right things at the right times – the Wildly Important Goals, initiatives, projects, and tasks that are most critical to the success of the organization. By changing the way team members engage with each other to achieve the goals, leaders and managers can dramatically improve the impact of their team’s performance.

FranklinCovey clients also utilize The 4 Disciplines of Execution® Operating System (“4DXOS”) to measure execution progress and their Execution Performance Score (”XPS”). 4DXOS.com is an online tool fully designed to support The 4 Disciplines of Execution and allows organizations to track commitments and goal achievement. It provides a cadence of accountability to individuals, teams and organizations and ensures overall success in achieving superior results. Within 4DXOS, XPS tracks performance data, allowing clients to institutionalize high performance behaviors at scale. XPS measures the amount of energy and engagement an organization is putting against its strategic targets and if it is on pace or not. XPS is also tracked within the FranklinCovey 4DX OS app, providing organizations with the ability to know where they are in the execution process of attaining their Wildly Important Goals on the go (visit here to learn more about XPS).

McChesney said, “These disciplines are deceptively simple to state, but they’re not simplistic. Reading the book is only the beginning of changing how you approach goal achievement. Partnering with FranklinCovey to implement the process with excellence, exponentially increases the results that organizations experience. When done correctly, it represents a major breakthrough in how to move teams and organizations forward. The 4 Disciplines of Execution lead to changes in behavior that creates optimal results every time.”

For information: Visit FranklinCovey’s 4 Disciplines of Execution to learn more, see client success stories, or attend an introductory webcast.

About the Authors

Chris McChesney is the Global Practice Leader of Execution for FranklinCovey and has led the ongoing development of the 4 Disciplines for more than fifteen years, impacting thousands of organizations. Chris presents at the world’s largest leadership conferences.

Sean Covey is the President of FranklinCovey Education and the original architect of the 4 Disciplines methodology. A Harvard MBA and former Brigham Young University quarterback, Sean is also a New York Times bestselling author and has written numerous books, including The Leader in Me and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens.

Jim Huling is the Global Managing Consultant for FranklinCovey’s 4 Disciplines of Execution. In this role, Jim is responsible for the 4 Disciplines methodology, teaching methods, and the quality of delivery worldwide. Jim also regularly serves as an executive coach to a number of senior executives.

Scott Thele is currently the National Practice Leader for FranklinCovey’s Business Outcomes Practice, primarily applying the 4 Disciplines of Execution. Scott focuses his time as a keynote speaker, business consultant, and a content thought leader helping organizations execute their most critical strategies.

Beverly Walker, former Commissioner, Department of Human Services, State of Georgia and Director, Department of Children and Family Services, State of Illinois, has applied the 4 Disciplines to driving results in large-scale and seemingly insurmountable challenges from infant death to mental health to child literacy.

ABOUT FRANKLIN COVEY CO.

Franklin Covey Co. (NYSE: FC) is a global, public company, specializing in organizational performance improvement. We help organizations achieve results that require lasting changes in human behavior. Our world-class solutions enable greatness in individuals, teams and organizations and are accessible through the FranklinCovey All Access Pass®. They are available across multiple modalities and in 20 plus languages. Clients have included the Fortune 100, Fortune 500, thousands of small- and mid-sized businesses, numerous government entities, and educational institutions. FranklinCovey has more than 100 direct and partner offices providing professional services in more than 160 countries and territories. To learn more visit www.FranklinCovey.com and enjoy exclusive content across FranklinCovey’s social media channels: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

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