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Good to Great
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Good to Great (2001) (edit title/settings)

Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't

by Jim Collins (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

The Challenge Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning. But what about the company that is not born with great... read more

Summary edit see section history

The book deals with several factors that Collins and his research team found applied to companies that made the transition from being merely good to being great. The results of their study showed that there are seven key principles that apply, namely:

1) Level 5 Leadership
The... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

The book deals with several factors that Collins and his research team found applied to companies that made the transition from being merely good to being great. The results of their study showed that there are seven key principles that apply, namely:

1) Level 5 Leadership
The research team was "shocked" to discover the characteristics of the good-to-great company leaders. There were no "high profile leaders with big personalities", rather they were "Self-effacing, quiet, reserved, even shy... a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will".

2) First Who... Then What
Before focusing on strategy and vision, the successful companies focused on getting the right people into the right positions, then they decided where to go.

3) Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith)
The good-to-great companies could face the most difficult circumstances, but never doubted that they would would overcome the problems and ultimately succeed.

4) The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles)
The good-to-great companies overcame "the curse of competence": they focused on becoming the best company in their field, even if that meant changing direction from something they had been doing well (but not excellently) for decades.

5) Culture of Discipline
Discipline replaces bureaucracy and tight controls in good-to-great companies - they have "an ethic of entrepreneurship".

6) Technology Accelerators
Good-to-great companies use technology selectively and wisely. Importantly, they do not see it as a cause of success.

7) The Flywheel and the Doom Loop
Making the transition to greatness is not the result of an event or a programme. It takes a long period of hard work, analogous to slowly building momentum by turning a heavy flywheel.

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “if you have the right people on the bus, they will be self-motivated”
  • “GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF GREAT. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don't have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life. The vast majority of organizations never become great, precisely because the vast majority become quite good-and that is the main problem.Those who built the good-to-great companies, however, made as much use of "stop doing" lists as "to do" lists. They displayed a remarkable discipline to unplug all sorts of extraneous junk.”
  • “Dreams make you click, juice you, turn you on, excite the living daylights out of you. You cannot wait to get out of bed to continue pursuing your dream. The kind of dream I'm talking about gives meaning to your life. it is the ultimate motivator.”
  • “The kind of commitment I find among the best performers across virtually every field is a single-minded passion for what they do, an unwavering desire for excellence in the way they think and the way they work. Genuine confidence is what launches you out of bed in the morning, and through your day with a spring in your step.”
  • “Great vision without great people is irrelevant.”

Organizations edit see section history

  • Fortune 500: Top 500 Business's on the New York Stock exchange

First Sentence edit see section history

Good is the enemy of great.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Acknowledgments
Preface
Chapter 1 - Good Is the Enemy of Great
Chapter 2 - Level 5 Leadership
Chapter 3 - First Who...Then What
Chapter 4 - Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith)
Chapter 5 - The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles)
Chapter 6 - A Culture of Discipline
Chapter 7 - Technology Accelerators
Chapter 8 - The Flywheel and the Doom Loop
Chapter 9 - From Good to Great to Built to Last
Epilogue: Frequently Asked Questions
Research Appendices
Notes
Index

Series & Lists edit see section history

This book is in Stanford GSB. (community list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Jim Collins (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: HarperCollins
Country: United States
Publication Date: 2001
ISBN: 0-06-662099-6
Page Count: 300

Classification edit see section history

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Adults

Business book

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning
  • Richest Man in Babylon
  • Execution
  • Getting to 'Closed': A Proven Program to Accelerate the Sales Cycle and Increase Commissions
  • Built to Last
  • Getting to Yes
  • Now, Discover Your Strengths
  • My Life and Work
  • The Goal
  • Secrets of the Vine
  • The Wages of Wins
  • Leading From Your Strengths: Building Intimacy In Your Small Group (Leading from Your Strengths)
  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
  • The Innovator's Dilemma
  • How The Mighty Fall
  • The Halo Effect

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