The 4 Disciplines
of Execution®

Discipline 1:
Focus on the Wildly Important

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There will always be
more good ideas than
there is capacity to execute.

Our research has shown that only 15 percent of employees actually know their organization’s most important goals—either there are no goals or they have too many goals. 

Focus on less in order to accomplish more. Start by selecting 1 Wildly Important Goal® (WIG®) instead of trying to work on a dozen goals all at once. We are not suggesting you ignore the work necessary to maintain your daily operation. We are suggesting you narrow your focus to work on what you want to significantly improve. 

To define a WIG, identify where you are now, where you want to be, and by when. Said differently, you define a starting line, a finish line, and a deadline. Psychologically it is important to have a single measure of success. This is the discipline of focus, and it’s the first step in creating a winnable game. 

The Wildly Important Goal (WIG)

Practicing Discipline 1 means narrowing your focus to a few highly important goals so you can achieve them in the midst of the whirlwind of the day job. 

Your chances of achieving 2 or 3 goals with excellence are high, but the more goals you try to juggle at once, the less likely you will be to reach them. 

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Focusing on the wildly important requires you to go against your basic wiring as a leader to do more, and instead, focus on less so that your team can achieve more.

The 4 Disciplines of Execution®

01

Focus on the Wildly Important

This is the discipline of focus. Exceptional execution starts with narrowing the focus—clearly identifying what must be done. Otherwise, nothing else you achieve really matters much.

02

Act on the Lead Measures

This is the discipline of leverage. 80% of your results will come from 20% of your activities; are you focusing on the right ones? Discipline 2 is based on the principle that not all actions are created equal. Identify and act on the activities with the highest leverage. 

03

Keep a Compelling Scoreboard

This is the discipline of engagement. People and teams play differently when they are keeping score, and the right kind of scoreboards motivate the players to win. 

04

Create a Cadence of Accountability

This is the discipline of accountability. Each team engages in a simple weekly process that highlights successes, analyzes failures, and course-corrects as necessary, creating the ultimate performance-management system. 

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