“This is a profile of 14 companies that chose to focus on being great at what they do rather than on growing their company in size despite many opportunities to do so.
The author finds several links between them:
1) The owners realized they had a choice of what kind of company they would be and didn't just settle on following normal understanding of what kind of growth a company should aim for
2) They overcame pressure to give up control of their company to investors for the sake of growth
3) They were intimately tied to the community they were involved in
4) They had strong, real connections with their customers and suppliers
5) They had uniquely compassionate workplaces
6) They created unique company structures that likely wouldn't work for other companies
7) Their leaders loved what they did
Burlington did a great job of reminding us that to succeed you should just be real and don't worry about artificial growth. If you care about what you do and about the people you serve you will succeed, insha'Allah.
Although it was a near 5-star in the uniqueness of the books focus, there was something that seemed missing from the book. Perhaps it was a lack of passion that the author himself seemed to have (except when talking about his experience at Inc. Magazine), which seemed to bring down the passion of the profiled owners down a notch. It seemed to be a book that should have been manifesto to keep your company small but instead was just a profile in how you can succeed and still be small.
Regardless this should be a required reading for any company owner who is thinking about how to grow his company and was worth the read.
”
