With hundreds of well–known management practices and prescriptions promoted by consultants and available to business, which are really effective and contribute to the growth and continued success of a company? Which do little or nothing? Based on the "Evergreen Project," a massive, 5 year study involving the business school faculties of ten universities, the authors set out to find the management practices that truly promote long–term growth and success. Their findings will revolutionize the art and practice of business management.The book shows that there are essentially six management practices that all successful companies must master simultaneously. They range from focusing on a strategy of growth to maintaining the depth and quality of human talent in the organization.

In What Really Works, William Joyce, Nitin Nohria, and Bruce Roberson put forth findings based on the Evergreen Project, a massive five-year study in which consultants and business school professors at top universities around the country analyzed ten years of data on 160 companies and more than 200 management practices. The authors discovered that all successful companies simultaneously master six specific management practices. These include four primary practices — Strategy, Execution, Culture, Organization — and any two of four secondary practices — Employee Talent, Leadership and Governance, Innovation, and Mergers and Partnerships.

Through lively case studies focusing on companies they've designated Winners, Climbers, Tumblers, or Losers, depending on their adherence to the formula, the authors have at last uncovered the real keys to true long-term business success and What Really Works.