How do you execute in life?
Suggested Reading
ADP 5-0, The Operations Process
Pages 4-1 through 4-9 based on printed document (PDF pages 65-73)
An overview of the leadership actions and responsibilities during execution in the Operations Process
This week’s Study: First to Paper
All excerpts below are from ADP 5-0
Guided Discovery
Effective execution requires leaders trained in independent decision making, aggressiveness, and risk taking in an environment of mission command.
ADP 5-0, Section 4-3
Independent decision-maker.
Aggressive.
Risk taker.
How do you describe yourself to yourself? “I am…”
How do others describe you to each other? “He/she is…”
How do others describe you to your face? “You are…”
How do you want to be described?
The answer to any of these does not need to be “an aggressive, risk-taking, independent decision-maker,” though most professionals and leaders, in their hearts would use and hope a version of this definition is used. It is how people would like to think of themselves: I’m bold and confident and comfortable with risk and make decisions for myself!
Generally, no leader is described this way.
Aggression is rash, overbearing, mean. Risk is to be mitigated, not taken. Independent decision-making? Sounds like you did not trust your team enough to ask them!
Caught in a world where you’d like to be aggressive, risk-taking, independent decision-makers, are concerned that we aren’t aggressive, risk-taking, independent decision-makers, and fear that we might be penalized both if we are OR are not aggressive, risk-taking, independent decision-makers, how should you execute in life?
The thread in the needle is the imperative to be trained to be an aggressive, risk-taking, independent decision maker, not that these are your entire leadership persona. This is how one must be prepared to act at the point of execution.
4-1. Execution is the act of putting a plan into action by applying combat power to accomplish the mission and adjusting operations based on changes in the situation. In execution, commanders, staffs, and subordinate commanders focus their efforts on translating decisions into actions.
Leaders lead planning. And leaders lead preparation. For most, much more time is spent planning and preparing versus execution. But a leader’s reputation is formed primarily on how they execute.
The translation of decisions into actions, the point of execution, is an uncomfortable place for many. It can be fairly recognized as a differentiating point between a good planner and a good leader.
A good planner is measured, deliberative, inclusive of perspective, and seeks to mitigate risk. A good leader, trained to be an aggressive, risk-taking, independent decision-maker, is ready to benefit from the work of a good planner but also ready to fight the enemy and not the plan.
4-2. Commanders fight the enemy, not the plan. … A plan provides a reasonably forecast of execution. However, it remains a starting point, not an exact script to follow. As General George S. Patton, Jr. cautioned, “…one makes plans to fit circumstances and does not try to create circumstances to fit plans.”
The way you fight the enemy, in a military sense or in whatever translation is applicable (business objective, personal plan), is to actually begin execution.
Seizing initiative is not the result of simply taking action. Review how to build a Plan and Prepare for operations in advance of taking action.
It seems silly, but organizations and people will procrastinate getting started. People love nothing more than to push back the start date, defer taking action, or procrastinate.
4-4. Execution is a concerted effort to seize and retain the initiative, maintain momentum, and exploit success.
Beginning execution is not just getting started taking action, it is working deliberately to be first and faster to dictate circumstances in a situation.
It isn’t taking initiative or showing initiative, it is SEIZING initiative.
Seizing initiative usually does not happen instantaneously, but it is difficult to achieve without applying maximum effort early. The objective is to set the tone, pace, tempo, sequence, location, or any other factor of characteristics or circumstances of engagement or operations.
4-6. Seizing the initiative ultimately results from forcing an enemy reaction. Commanders identify times and places where they can mass the effects of combat power to relative advantage. To compel a reaction, they threaten something the enemy cares about such as its center of gravity or decisive points leading to it. By forcing the enemy to react, commanders initiate an action-to-reaction sequence that ultimately reduces enemy options to zero. Each action develops the situation further and reduces the number of possibilities to be considered, thereby reducing friendly uncertainty. Each time the enemy must react, its uncertainty increases. Developing the situation by forcing the enemy to react is the essence of seizing the initiative.
Seizing the initiative is about compelling reactions. “Commanders initiate an action-to-reaction sequence.” This is the core of executing as an aggressive, risk-taking, independent decision maker: leading the action-to-reaction sequence.
Reflect on interactions over the last two weeks of your life. Where were you the leader in the action-to-reaction sequence and where were you the one forced to consistently react?
“Each action develops the situation further and reduces the number of possibilities to be considered, thereby reducing friendly uncertainty.”
During military operations, there are allies, other units, and various friendlies that also benefit from a reduction in uncertainty. The same is applicable for you, and the value of reducing “friendly uncertainty” should overlooked. Not only does it improve their performance, it also improves their confidence in your decision-making.
Increased certainty and confidence are critical; after you have seized initiative it is your responsibility to retain it:
4-7. Retaining the initiative involves applying unrelenting pressure on the enemy.
Unrelenting pressure is derived from executing at pace to build and maintain momentum.
4-13. Momentum comes from seizing the initiative and executing decisive, shaping, and sustaining operations at a rapid and sustainable tempo. Momentum allows commanders to create opportunities to engage the enemy from unexpected directions with unanticipated capabilities. Having seized the initiative, commanders continue to control the relative momentum by maintaining focus and pressure and controlling the tempo.
If you have ever watched a televised sporting event, or played sports, you have heard and are aware of the value of controlling the tempo in athletic competitions. In sports, it is not a given that the tempo needs to be fast; sometimes slowing the tempo of a game is advantageous for a team.
However, the US Army suggestions a bias toward increased pace.
4-14. Speed promotes surprise and can compensate for lack of forces. It magnifies the impact of success in seizing the initiative.
Moving at speed, even when you are confident in your decisions, frequently feels too aggressive. Humans, by nature, achieve control by slowing down. It’s why most Olympic sports celebrate control at high rates of speed: it is unnatural.
Aggressiveness requires speed. An imbalance in forces, resources, or need might necessitate it. Have a bias towards increased pace.
When does speed in execution make you uncomfortable? How might you increase the speed of your own (or your team’s) activities without increasing uncertainty or discomfort?
Having seized the initiative and built and maintained momentum, what is next? Exploiting success.
4-16. Ultimately, only successes that achieve the end state count.
Excellent reminder. But there is an appreciation that sometimes success is sometimes difficult to recognize.
4-16. To determine how to exploit tactical and operational successes, commanders assess them in terms of the higher commander’s intent. However, success will likely occur in ways unanticipated in the plan. Commanders may gain an objective in an unexpected way. Success signals a rapid assessment to answer these questions:
Does the success generate opportunities that more easily accomplish the objectives?
Does it suggest other lines of operations or lines of effort?
Does it cause commanders to change their overall intent?
Should the force transition to a sequel?
Should the force accelerate the phasing of the operation?
Fundamental to the notion of exploiting success is that every accomplishment only exists to provide an opportunity to make the next choice. What is achieved is opportunity to continue to be an aggressive, risk-taking, independent decision-maker.
Recognizing success and how to exploit success is a leader’s responsibility. As is actually leading during execution.
4-18. During execution, commanders focus their activities on directing, assessing, and leading while improving their understanding and modifying their visualization. … During execution, leading is as important as decision making, since commanders influence subordinates by providing purpose, direction, and motivation.
How do you lead during execution?
How should you lead during execution?
What do you need to do differently or better?
4-19. Effective commanders balance the need to make personal observations, provide command presence, and sense the mood of subordinates from forward locations with their ability to maintain command and control continuity with the entire force.
If this sounds familiar, it is. Effective commanders place themselves physically at points of impact, and ADP 5-0 reminds us of this throughout the examination of the entire operations process. Leaders need to be hands-on in parts of planning, especially as it relates to defining intent. Leaders need to be present during preparation to validate readiness. And leaders need to be in a position to provide command presence during execution.
Do you think your execution actions match your intentions? What needs to change for you to become a more aggressive, risk-taking, independent decision maker?
How do you execute in life?
Questions for Individual Reflection
Within the next week, where will you seize the initiative and lead an action-to-reaction sequence?
When does preserving momentum become a liability rather than an asset in execution?
How can leaders distinguish between signals and noise when making rapid decisions under pressure?
Professional Discussion Prompts
Can a team act too quickly in response to emerging opportunities? How do you know when to pause?
When should a leader intentionally allow confusion to test adaptability and initiative within the team?
What is the cost of a poor decision compared to the cost of indecision in high-stakes corporate environments?
In which situations should decision-making authority shift to those closest to the information?
Which opportunities have your teams missed because of overly cautious execution?
Personal Discussion Prompts
How do you assess momentum in your relationships or personal goals? Do you misread it?
What does “initiative” look like in your home life, and do you take enough of it—or too much?
What family decisions mirror military-style quick judgment calls? How do you reflect on those?
Where does risk aversion show up outside of work, and what has it cost you?
How do you know when to step back and let others—partners, children, friends—take the lead?
Exercises
Lost Momentum
Exercise:
Each team recalls a business case where a project stalls unexpectedly.
Diagnose why momentum was lost (team structure, leadership, timing, communication).
Propose interventions to regain and maintain momentum.
Debrief:
What is most commonly misunderstood about momentum in execution?
How would you apply this to current initiatives in your organization?
What are early warning signs of momentum failure?
Friction Finder
Exercise:
Teams analyze a recent failed initiative or delayed project.
Identify 3 sources of “friction” using military definitions—internal, external, informational.
Debrief:
What friction was unavoidable—and what was self-inflicted?
How could friction have been anticipated or designed for?
What one change would’ve created the most executional clarity?
Feel free to borrow this with pride and use with your teams, professionally or personally. If you do, please let me know how it went and tips for improvement: matt @ borrowingwithpride.com