Good to Great Is!

by Jim Collins
 


A = Must Read

B = Put it on Your List

C = Underwhelming

D = Not Even Summer Reading

F = I'm Sorry I Read it
   

 

After writing Built to Last, a book which analyzes attributes of companies that have achieved long term success, its author, Jim Collins was chastised by one of his “fans” who commented on the book, “...it’s useless... The companies you wrote about were, for the most part, always great... what about the vast majority of companies that wake up partway through life and realize that they’re good, but not great?”

Collins was intrigued by this question. His research group promptly went to work searching for companies that had experienced a turning point from flat performance to a sustained (15 year minimum) period of spectacular market beating growth. Each of the eleven companies selected for study had achieved returns at least four times greater than the general market while also maintaining higher returns than its competitors.

These good to great companies have a variety of common factors:

Leadership: Diligent, results-driven executives who are surprising humble.

Strategy: Highly-focused on being the best at only one thing. Most companies took several years to achieve this focus by considering these three questions: What are we deeply passionate about? What can we be the best in the world at? What drives our economic engine?

Honest Assessment: The most successful companies analyzed their successes and failures and didn’t “sugar-coat” mistakes.

The Right People: The author sums it up best, “People are not your most important asset. The right people are.”

Culture of Discipline: Each company had the discipline to maintain strategic focus.

Smart Use of Technology: Successful companies used technology to accelerate and enable their achievements, but did not consider technology to be a primary driver of results.

I suggest that you read Collins book as soon as possible. In addition to providing recommendations to help your own company grow, it may also help your portfolio grow as you predict which are the next companies to make the transition from “good to great.”

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