Book excerpt: For any organization to perform and compete successfully, it must have the systems and processes in place to translate goals into achievable actions—and to measure and monitor results. Moreover, the organization must be able to adjust and adapt as market conditions, technologies, the competitive environment, government regulations, personnel, and other variables evolve, sometimes gradually and sometimes dramatically. In Delivering Results: Measuring What Matters, Babson College professors and management consultants, Lawrence Carr and Alfred Nanni, show managers how to avoid the common pitfalls and mistakes when setting corporate strategy, and instead create a management system—unique to their organization—that aligns internal resources with objectives, motivates and rewards employees, and continuously provides feedback. Illustrating their concepts with numerous real-life examples (both successes and failures), practical tools and models, and a glossary of key terms, the authors demonstrate that knowing how to create and direct management systems that deliver results is, in itself, a strategic resource.