Good to Great: Why some companies make the leap and others don’t

Jim Collins explores what makes a great company but looking at a list of 1,435 companies that made the leap and some that did now. Settling on 11–including Fannie Mae, Gillette, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo — and discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success.

Making the transition from good to great doesn’t require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy. At the heart was a corporate culture that rigorously found and promoted disciplined people to think and act in a disciplined manner.

The book offers a well-reasoned road map to excellence that any organization would do well to consider.

Nuggets of insights

• Managing your problems can only make you good, whereas building your opportunities is the only way to become great.
• “Stop To-Do list” is more important then the To-Do list.
• Greatness is a conscious choice.
• Your people aren’t the most important asset, the “right” people are. These people are selected by character attributes and not on specific educational background.
• It’s “who you pay” not how you pay. “Hire 5, work them like 10 and pay them like 8”.
• Best people do not need to be managed.
• Strong people are motivated by performance.
• Put your best people on your best opportunities not problems.

Enjoy!
~ Ernest