Jim Collins is a lifelong student and teacher of leadership and of what makes great companies tick. He has been on the faculty of Stanford University as a researcher and professor, and was honored to serve the US Military Academy at West Point as Chair of Leadership Studies.
Jim’s passion is to research and write. ‘Good to Great’ is the culmination of 5 years of research by him and his team on twenty-eight companies. The mission was to compare companies that make the transition to greatness with companies in similar industries that remained stagnant or failed. From that, they sought to define what companies must do in order to transition from ‘Good to Great.’
The findings of Good to Great revealed:
– Level 5 Leaders: The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness.
– The Hedgehog Concept: To go from ‘good to great’ requires transcending the curse of competence.
– A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the great results.
– The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical chance programs and wrenching restructuring will almost certainly fail to make the leap.
– The Hedgehog Concept: To go from ‘good to great’ requires transcending the curse of competence.
– A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the great results.
– The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical chance programs and wrenching restructuring will almost certainly fail to make the leap.
‘Good to Great’ was written nearly twenty years ago. Having been often referenced in reading and implementing ‘Traction’ by Gino Wickman, it was pulled from the shelf for a re-read. The principals are timeless, as evident by a sampling of quotes from Jim Collins.
