Good To Great

Jim Collins  |  Book

‘Good to Great’ analyses the performance of 1,435 good companies, over a 40-year period. Jim Collins and his team Incredibly identify only 11 companies that became great.

This is a brilliant book with a three-part structure: ‘what’ you need to do, ‘why’ this is important and ‘how’ to turn your good company into great company.

Key ‘what to do’ learnings include:

  • Develop leader skill set to Level 5,

where you shift focus from a leader ‘who ‘knows everything’ and/or is charismatic’ to leader who is a blend of ‘determination and humility’.

  • Identify team members who are ‘A’ Players, as they will drive a culture of ‘greatness’. This means building a behavioural framework of:
    • ‘can-do’ attitude
    • building solution focussed communication skills
    • ‘ownership and self-accountability’ for their decision making
  • Identify with absolute clarity what the ‘one’ thing is you want to sell and to whom, rather than having too many offering to multiple target markets – analyse your optimal ‘value proposition’, by utilising the Hedgehog Concept process.
  • Learn how to develop a culture of curiosity, determination and discipline.
  • Learn the Hedgehog Concept process to

analyse the suitability of new technology to accelerate greatness, rather than simply following ‘next best thing’.

  • Greatness takes time, and like the Flywheel, you start pushing slowly and with every push, you slowing increasing momentum until your spinning into greatness.

Enjoy!