Quiz: Are You Ruthless?

1. Do you clearly understand which customers are the most profitable and why?

2. Does your company effectively balance between short-term performance and long-term growth investments?

3. Is your company relentless about ensuring a direct linkage of initiatives to strategic imperatives?

4. Are you relentless about linking incentives to results rather than activities?

5. Do you have a proactive and disciplined approach to assessing value and identifying potential acquisitions and timely divestitures?

6. Does your company have a culture of discipline?

7. Do you effectively analyze and prioritize initiatives and investments?

8. Does your company have a planning and review rhythm (quarterly reviews)?

9. Do you enforce accountability for deliverables? Are the consequences real?

10. Do you have deep succession plans?

Source: Ruthless Execution: What Business Leaders Do When Their Companies Hit the Wall (Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2004)