Book Summary: Good To Great
Explore what goes into a company's transformation from mediocre to excellent. Based on hard evidence and volumes of data, the book author (Jim Collins) and his team uncover timeless principles on how the good-to-great companies like Abbott, Circuit City, Fannie Mae, Gillette, Kimberly-Clark, Kroger, Nucor, Philip Morris, Pitney Bowes, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo produced sustained great results and achieved enduring greatness, evolving into companies that were indeed ‘Built to Last'. The Collins team selected 2 sets of comparison companies: a. Direct comparisons – Companies in the same industry with the same resources and opportunities as the good-to-great group but showed no leap in performance, which were: Upjohn, Silo, Great Western, Warner-Lambert, Scott Paper, A&P, Bethlehem Steel, RJ Reynolds, Addressograph, Eckerd, and Bank of America. b. Unsustained comparisons – Companies that made a short-term shift from good to great but failed to maintain the trajectory, namely: Burroughs, Chrysler, Harris, Hasbro, Rubbermaid, and Teledyne Wisdom In A Nutshell: a. Ten out of eleven good-to-great company leaders or CEOs came from the inside. They were not outsiders hired in to ‘save' the company. They were either people who worked many years at the company or were members of the family that owned the company. b. Strategy per se did not separate the good to great companies from the comparison groups. c. Good-to-great companies focus on what Not to do and what they should stop doing. d. Technology has nothing to do with the transformation from good to great. It may help accelerate it but is not the cause of it. e. Mergers and acquisitions do not cause a transformation from good to great. f. Good-to-great companies paid little attention to managing change or motivating people. Under the right conditions, these problems naturally go away. g. Good-to-great transformations did not need any new name, tagline, or launch program. The leap was in the performance results, not a revolutionary process. h. Greatness is not a function of circumstance; it is clearly a matter of conscious choice. i. Every good-to-great company had “Level 5” leadership during pivotal transition years, where Level 1 is a Highly Capable Individual, Level 2 is a Contributing Team Member, Level 3 is the Competent Manager, Level 4 is an Effective Leader, and Level 5 is the Executive who builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will. j. Level 5 leaders display a compelling modesty, are self-effacing and understated. In contrast, two thirds of the comparison companies had leaders with gargantuan personal egos that contributed to the demise or continued mediocrity of the company. k. Level 5 leaders are fanatically driven, infected with an incurable need to produce sustained results. They are resolved to do whatever it takes to make the company great, no matter how big or hard the decisions. l. One of the most damaging trends in recent history is the tendency (especially of boards of directors) to select dazzling, celebrity leaders and to de-select potential Level 5 leaders. m. Potential Level 5 leaders exist all around us, we just have to know what to look for. n. The research team was not looking for Level 5 leadership, but the data was overwhelming and convincing. The Level 5 discovery is an empirical, not ideological, finding. o. Before answering the “what” questions of vision and strategy, ask first “who” are the right people for the team. p. Comparison companies used layoffs much more than the good-to-great companies. Although rigorous, the good-to-great companies were never ruthless and did not rely on layoffs or restructuring to improve performance. q. Good-to-great management teams consist of people who debate vigorously in search of the best answers, yet who unify behind decisions, regardless of parochial interests. r. There is no link between executive compensation and the shift from good to great. The purpose of compensation is not to ‘motivate' the right behaviors from the wrong people, but to get and keep the right people in the first place. s. The old adage “People are your most important asset” is wrong. People are not your most important asset. The right people are. t. Whether someone is the right person has more to do with character and innate capabilities than specific knowledge, skills or experience. u. The Hedgehog Concept is a concept that flows from the deep understanding about the intersection of the following three circles: 1.What you can be best in the world at, realistically, and what you cannot be best in the world at 2.What drives your economic engine 3.What you are deeply passionate about v. Discover your core values and purpose beyond simply making money and combine this with the dynamic of preserve the core values - stimulate progress, as shown for example by Disney. They have evolved from making short animated films, to feature length films, to theme parks, to cruises, but their core values of providing happiness to young and old, and not succumbing to cynicism remains strong. w. Enduring great companies don't exist merely to deliver returns to shareholders. In a truly great company, profits and cash flow are absolutely essential for life, but they are not the very point of life. "IF YOU'RE DOING SOMETHING YOU CARE DEEPLY ABOUT AND IF YOU BELIEVE IN IT, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO IMAGINE NOT TRYING TO MAKE IT GREAT." By: Regine P. Azurin and Yvette Pantilla http://www.bizsum.com "A Lot Of Great Books....Too Little Time To Read" Free Book Summaries Of Latest Bestsellers and More! mailto:freenewsletter@bizsum.com BusinessSummaries is a BusinessSummaries.com service. (c) Copyright 2001-2005, BusinessSummaries.com Regine Azurin is the President of a company that provides business book summaries of the latest bestsellers for busy executives and entrepreneurs. |
Other Articles
The Good Doctor By Damon Galgut - Book Review Set in post apartheid South Africa the hospital in which this book is set has been created as a new town by central authorities. It would be hard to believe if we in the UK had not our own experiences of the social engineering of the 1960s. Unfortunately this hospital does not meet the needs of the local population and is not therefore used. The ..."Eye Witness: Acts of the Spirit" by Robert James Luedke: Book Reivew Eye Witness: Acts of the Spirit by Robert James Luedke Head Press Publishing (2006 ISBN 0975892428 Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (9/06)Book 2 of the Eye Witness Trilogy, “Eye Witness: Acts of the Spirit” is a graphic novel.Dr. Terrance Harper and his partner Raj Patel have translated a first century papyrus scrol ...100 Promises to My Baby (Book Review) When I read the first few pages of this book, I thought to myself that I had come across, finally, a book that goes further than a how-to baby book in the physical sense.I also have to admit that what hooked me in the beginning was the quote from Tagore, opposite the contents page. "Every child is born proof that God has not given up on h ...Until You've Walked the Path! From the depths of despair to the heights of hope. That is the inspiring journey traveled by author Paul Shearstone in his new book Until You've Walked The Path.Shearstone, a successful businessman, author and international keynote speaker, fought desperately to find balance and understanding as his life collapsed around him in the early ...Bob the Dragon Slayer - Book Review This very fun, exciting, fast-paced, warm novella - Bob the Dragon Slayer by Harry E. Gilleland Jr. – was a great afternoon read. In only 99 pages, this poet and author takes readers on a glorious adventure.Bob, an orphaned peasant lad witnesses a dragon destroying an entire village and dreams of becoming a knight. Within a short tim ...Orange "Archie, a few nights ago, you mentioned your Life Philosophy, remember?""Yeah. Why?""Tell me more about it.""Sure." He left the ledge, grabbed another beer from the cooler, and sat by the table. "My philosophy is grounded on the have's and have-not's. We all start with a set of resources - money, power, talent, anything. We ...Small Business Marketing Book Review - People and Your Business What if somebody told you one critical key to business success was to practice the principle of the Golden Rule in your business? The idea seems to somehow run counter to so much of what we’ve been taught about business, doesn’t it? Yet, what if that same source convinced you through case-study after case-study that application of the Golden Rul ...The New Accelerator So they both, Professor Gihberne and the author took the drug. After they opened their eyes everything was still. It seemed like nothing moved. The curtain on the window was with a corner high flapping briskly in the breeze. A man who was riding a bicycle outside was still and immovable, there was a frozen puff of dust behind his driving whe ...Living in Darkness - Book Review Award winning author John Roynesdal, is a retired English teacher who has written for more than 15 years and produced 3 books for his Phillip Michael Carnegie Mystery series. Throughout the series, John focuses on issues that prevail on mankind: greed, prejudice, poverty, dysfunctional families and the conflict between traditional and moder ...James Joyce - 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' Rebellion and Release James Joyce’s novel 'A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man' is a 'bildungsroman', concerned with the development of its main character, Stephen Dedalus. By comparison with Joyce's earlier version, 'Stephen Hero', we see that he has cut out all extraneous material concerning other characters, and presented a close and detailed account of the d ...My Rich Jerk eBook Review When I first came across this website and online ebook, I thought to myself, either this guy really knows what he's doing promoting his own product, or he's totally off his rocker.Well, he really knows how to promote his own product. Not only are the ads eye-catching conveying a certain irreverent attitude about himself and others but it' ..."The Runic Tarot" by Caroline Smith and John Astrop: A Review The Runic Tarot is a unique book and deck set collaboration by the husband and wife team of John Astrop and Caroline Smith. Caroline is the artist and John is an astrologer. They have successfully collaborated on The Moon Oracle, The Elemental Tarot and the Oracle of the Radiant Sun. This book and deck set comes in a unique package which opens t ..."Snake Walkers" Author J. Everett Prewitt: BOOK REVIEW Snake Walkers By J. Everett Prewitt Northland Publishing Company (2005) Reviewed by Beverly Pechin for Reader Views (3/06)When first approaching “Snake Walkers” I wasn't so sure it was going to be my 'cup of tea'. It seemed to be another one of those stories set back in the days of racial conflict, one we've all ...Urgent Task of Preserving and Restoring Old & Rare Books Don't listen to the “paperless office” rhetoric. If it's that “paperless” how come printer sales are going through the roof and an ever increasing number of books are published every year?Just like TV did not replace radio, digital media and computers will never replace books. These two media, paper and digital, will continue to exist sid ...Read Your Way to Endless Referrals “All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, people they know, like and trust.”Endless Referrals is all about getting people to know you, like you, and trust you, so that they’ll send endless referrals your way. Bob Burg wrote the preeminent guide to effective networking years ago, and this most recent ver ..."Spirit Oracle" 54 Guidance Cards by Toni Carmine Salerno: A Review Blue Angel Art Gallery, Australia ISBN 0-9579149-2-XOracle decks are very popular and fill a niche in the spiritual self-guidance realm for people who love Tarot and other forms of divination, as well as for those people who want a daily affirmation or positive reinforcement without the complexities of learning a whole system of divin ...Media Star Power Book Review Judy Jernudd is a former newscaster and television talk show host turned professional speaker and media coach. Her unique background has given Ms. Jernudd the insight into what makes a great media interview and she shares this insight in her book.Media Star Power covers the terminology of the media world with concise descriptions, quotes ...Bead on Trouble by Barbara Burnett Smith - Book Review I just finished reading Bead on Trouble by Barbara Burnett Smith, a mystery novel set among beaders (makers of bead jewelry) in Central Texas.First of all, let me say how amazed I was at the fragmentation of the mystery novel market. Of course I was aware of standard genres, such as the police procedural or the English whodunit, as ...Story Structure - Classic Hero's Journey The Classical Hero’s Journey is one of the most detailed story structures containing 106 sequences overall and 32 in Act III alone.A descendant of Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces and containing references to all the normal and less usual Archetypes: Peer Brothers, the Failed Hero and more, it allows the screen or story writer ...Straight from the Gut - A Different Take on Business Jack Welsh, the recently retired CEO of General Electric, presents a rare glimpse into how to build a successful organization in his book, "Straight from the Gut." His honesty and openness is refreshing and reaffirms that success is sometimes built from failure, but more often from calculated planning and the willingness to take risks.Fro ...
|