Flawless Execution: Use the Techniques and Systems of America's Fighter Pilots to Perform at Your Peak and Win the Battles of the Business World

by James D. Murphy

Book Overview

From the former F-15 fighter pilot and CEO of one of Inc.'s 500 fastest-growing companies: a hard-hitting primer on performance excellence in the workplace -- military style According to former U.S. Air Force pilot-turned-management guru James D. Murphy, businesses need to take a lesson from the American military's fighter pilots. While F-15s, F-16s, and F/A-18s are the ultimate aerial combat machines, they are entirely dependent on the men and women...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060760494
• ISBN13: 9780060760496
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Harper Business
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Flawless Execution

The book is an excellent read for someone learning to set goals in striving towards the big picture...

Exceptional!

I first read this in the airport waiting for a connecting flight - I could not put it down. When I got home I immediately bought the book for all my people at work. This is worth more than any price if it is truely put into action - a must read for the serious business person.

This is the official Afterburner handbook.

If you haven't had the opportunity to experience an Afterburner seminar yet, this book links you into their entire process top-down, from strategy to the flawless execution model to the people who carry out the mission. As head of Training for my organization, I was particularly interested in the section Murph dedicated to training. In the business world we don't place enough emphasis on the importance of training our people - in the military they never place someone in an environment they are not prepared to be in. Training seems to always get sacrificed because we're too busy carrying out tasks to get pulled away. Murph speaks on training to achieve a (specific) Desired Learning Objective, seeing how its done and then doing it - learning from experience. In the corporate world there is much we can learn from military processes. Flawless Execution is a process that can be applied to every business objective - its asks the questions: Did we plan right? Communicate to our people clearly? Give our people the tools they need to execute their job? And, did we capture lessons learned so we can sharpen the saw next time? It's a powerful tool we're applying in my organization with much success. I just hope our competitors don't read this book!

Pray this guy is never your competitor

Frank, practical advice with a no nonsense approach...just like you'd expect from guys that operate in a space where coming in second isn't an option. This is a no BS look at how to improve any organization's ability to kick the competition's butt. You won't find "theoretical" discussions from a group of "academics." No charts and graphs. No fancy formulas. Just dozens of ideas that anyone with a desire to improve can implement. The "debrief" section and advice Murph provides has literally changed the way we operate in our company. Read it...and you'll understand why the USAF is the best in the world. More importantly, you'll see how their training methods can make you better. I couldn't recommend it more highly.

Best Business Book I've Read!!!!

Just finished Business School and I think Flawless Execution should have been required reading! It gave me a clear path to connect my big picture strategy (both professional and personal) to things I can work on everyday. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone and will make sure it is a part of every organization I work with in the future.