Good to Great “Why Some Companies Make and Others Don’t"
Harper Business, 2001, New York, NY.
Review By-
Swarup Bose
Table of Contents
About the Author (3)
Thesis (3)
Chapter 1. Good is the Enemy of Great (4)
Chapter 2.Level 5 Leadership (5)
Chapter 3. Then what.. (6)
Chapter 4. Confront the brutal facts (7)
Chapter 5. Hedgehog Concept (9)
Chapter 6. Cultural Discipline (10)
Chapter 7. Technological Accelerators (11)
Chapter 8. The Flywheel And the Doom Loop (12)
Chapter 9. From Good To great To built to Last (14)
Learnings from Good to great (15)
Critique (16)
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About the Author :
Jim Collins is a student and teacher of enduring great companies -- how they grow, how they
attain superior performance, and how good companies can become great companies. Having
invested over a decade of research into the topic, Jim has co-authored three books, including the
classic Built to Last, a fixture on the Business Week bestseller list for s eliminated wasteful
luxuries, like executive dining rooms, corporate jets, lavish vaca tion spots, etc., for the good of
the co mpany - to other people, external factors, and good luck. All 11 of the featured companies
恶搞爱情买卖had this type of leadership, charactmulti-year research projects and works with executives from
the private, public, and social sectors.
Jim has served as a teacher to senior executives and CEOs at corporations that include: Starbucks
痞幼3分25秒黑料Coffee, Merck, Patagonia, American General, W.L. Gore, and hundreds more. He has also
worked with the non-corporate sector such as the Leadership Network of Churches, Johns
Foundation for Non-Profit Management. Jim invests a significant portion of his energy in large-scale research projects -- often five or more
years in duration -- to develop fundamental insights and then translate those findings into books,
articles and lectures. He uses his management laboratory to work directly with executives and to
develop practical tools for applying the concepts that flow from his research.程书林
In addition, Jim is an avid rock climber and has made free ascents of the West Face of El Capitan
and the East Face of Washington Column in Yosemite Valley.
Thesis :
Collins and his team identified 11 companies that followed a pattern of "fifteen-year cumulative
stock returns at or below the general stock market, punctuated by a transition point, then
cumulative returns at least three times the market over the next fifteen years." Public companies
were selected because of the availability of comparable data. Fifteen-year segments were selected
to weed out the one-hit wonders and luck breaks. While these selection criteria exclude "new
economy" companies, Collins contends that there is nothing new about the new economy, citing
earlier technology innovations of electricity, the telephone, and the transistor.
Having identified the companies that made the leap from Good To Great, Collins and his team set
out to examine the transition point. What characteristics did the Good To Great companies have
that their industry counterparts did not? What didn't the Good To Great companies have?
Collins maps out three stages, each with two key concepts. These six concepts are the heart of
Good To Great and he devotes a chapter to explaining each of them.
• Level 5 Leadership
• Then What
• Confront the Brutal Facts
• The Hedgehog Concept
• A Culture of Discipline
• Technology Accelerators
Collins characterizes the Level 5 leader, as "a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will." The Level 5 leader is not the "corporate savior" or "turnaround expert". Most
of the CEOs of the Good To Great companies as they made the transition were company insiders.
They were more concerned about what they could "build, create and contribute" than what they
could "get - fame, fortune, adulation, power, whatever". No Ken Lay of Enron or Al Dunlap of
Scott Paper, the larger-than-life CEO, led a Good To Great company. This kind of executive is "concerned more with their own reputation for personal greatness" than they are with "setting the company up for success in the next generation".
In this book, Jim Collins also challenges the notion that "people are your most important asset"
and postulates instead that "the right people are." I don't know that I yet completely agree with his philosophy that it's more important to get the right people on the bus and then see where it goes
than it is to figure out where to go and get the right people on the bus who can get you there. However, he makes his point clearly and you can decide if you agree with him.
玉米男孩图片This nearly 300-page book is packed with leading edge thinking, clear examples, and data to support the conclusions. It is a challenge to all business leaders to exhibit the discipline required
to move their companies from Good To Great.
Chapter 1: Good is the Enemy of Great
Collins and his assembled crew started their research using the companies that rank in the top 500
in total annual sales. Then, by analyzing the returns they narrowed down the list to companies
that experienced mediocrity for a period of time, but then changed course for the better and outperformed not just other companies in the same industry, but the overall market by several times. Other factors were also considered, until they finally had the list narrowed down to eleven “superstar” corporations: Abbott, Circuit City, Fannie Mae, Gillette, Kimberly- Clark, Kroger, Nucor, Phillip Morris, Pitney Bowes, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo. He then explored 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 uncovered timeless principles on how the good-to-great companies like produced sustained great
tango in my heartresults and achieved enduring greatness, evolving into companies that were indeed ‘Built to Last’.
Good to Great is centers on a comparative analysis of eleven companies. Collins selects once-dull organizations, such as Kimberley Clark and Gillette that subsequently outperformed.
The usual fault of such manuals is their obvious prescriptions. Of course successful firms kept
close to their customers and motivated employees. But unsuccessful firms didn’t fail because they rejected these objectives. They failed because they couldn’t achieve them. Collins penetrates these banalities because he questions the congratulatory self-description of winning businesses. For example, most of his eleven companies didn’t have visionary CEOs determined to turn the business round Few were aiming at the cover page of Fortune, most were consensus builders from inside the organization. Collins' research says the CEO's at the time companies become great aren't egotistical business leaders. Rather, they tend to be reserved people who channel their ego into building their companies. Collins is a little vague on exactly how you get other employees and key players to
channel their egos into building the company. The hope is that, if you select the right people, they'll do what's best for the company rather than for themselves.
Finding something you can be passionate about is the other key. And, all employees must be passionate about the endeavor. Because most employees won't get jazzed about making the CEO and shareholders wealthy, a company should have a purpose beyond just making money. Collins says a company should have 'core values.'
Collins says it doesn't matter what these 'core values' are, just that they exist. He says Philip Morris i
s happy to provide the strongest brand recognition of 'sinful' products. Maybe, they're rebelling against political correctness, or health, or whatever. If it works for them, it's cool. Fannie Mae, on the other hand, prides itself on providing mortgages to new, less-affluent homeowners and helping people buy homes. That sounds good, and is probably true, but it reads a little bit like a publicity statement.
Chapter 2: Level 5 Leadership In this chapter Collins describes what he refers to as “level 5” leadership as explained in the table below. 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. 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. 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. One of the most damaging trends in recent history is the tendency (especially of boards of directors) to select d
azzling, celebrity leaders and to de-select potential Level 5 leaders. Potential Level 5 leaders exist all around us, we just have to know what to look for. 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.
The 5th Level Leader – 5th Level Leaders have a combination of strong will and personal humility. The 5th Level Leader demonstrates an unwavering resolve and sets the standard for building great companies. In balance, he/she demonstrates a compelling modesty, relies on inspired standards and channels ambition into the company, and not into the self. The 5th Level Leader “looks in the mirror, not out the window” when focusing on responsibility and does just the opposite when apportioning credit for success of the company.
When a leader’s energy is “in balance” they are driven neither by ego nor fear. They are moving at a speed that allows them to feel themselves, as well as those around them. They realize more than anyone else, that “the less you control, the more you can do”. Leadership greatness is about being a conduit of energy, not a single generator of it.
Collins asked a critical question: Can 5th Level Leadership be taught? Well, yes and no. To the exte
nt someone is gifted with these innate capabilities, they certainly have a head start. For any leader it is a matter of degree. It is about growing into the role of a 5th Level Leadership leader.
It is interesting to note that most 5th Level Leaders did not live extravagant lifestyles. They had sound family and community relationships. They had healthy and long-term marriages. Most of them are highly spiritual people who have attributed much of their success to good-luck and God rather than personal greatness. These men and women were servant leaders, not self-serving ones.
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