I wish more authors of business best sellers would employ such rigorous research to substantiate their writing as Jim Collins did in Good to Great. The more rigorous research however, the less surprising the findings. What did distinguish companies at the stage of transition from good to great was:
* having the right people including ego-less leadership;
* seeing undistorted reality for what it is;
* focus on one mission in the intersection of their abilities, passion and financial viability.

Extra bonus for the audio edition being narrated in story telling style, repeating key points and describing missing visuals.

This book studied a series of companies that made the leap from good to great, comparing them with similar companies that did not make the leap. The researchers found reasons, beginning with what they call Level-5 leadership, for why these companies became great. Though written about businesses, the principles in this book can easily be applied to any sort of leadership.

That said, about halfway through I moved into skimming because the main points are highlighted and much of the surrounding book is kind of fluff. I mean, the stories are interesting, but you can easily get the gist of the book without reading it all. It was also somewhat jarring to read it knowing that two of the companies (Circuit City, Fannie Mae) have since crashed and burned. This does not really ruin the thesis of the book, as there is no assurance the companies profiled would remain great. Though it would be interesting to read a supplement analysis of how these companies lost their way. It was also weird to see Philip Morris spoken of so highly, simply because their good-to-great growth included growing an international market...of people addicted to smoking who will probably die! Maybe that is extreme, but it bothered me almost as much as if they had profiled successful pornographers or pimps. Philip Morris seemed to get less play in the book, so maybe the authors knew readers would not appreciate a cigarette company spoken of so highly?

Overall, a helpful and intriguing book.

Ugh. Nothing says Boring Stories than studying the "top companies" as measured by their stock-market performance in the late 20th century. Excuse me while I stab myself with a sharpened corporate annual report.

Some just in time concepts for me: the Stockdale paradox [confront the brutal facts + have faith in a resolution]; the Hedhehog concept [identifying - for yourself or for your organization - the overlap between what you love or have a passion for, what you can become very good at and where you can bring economic value]; the flywheel etc.

I recommend it for periods when struggling to get from good to great. Yourself or the organization.

Realmente es un libro para disfrutarlo de principio a fin, para los que tenemos la dicha de trabajar en empresas que han sufrido grandes cambios o transformaciones realmente te das cuenta que hace sentido algunas decisiones y comprendes los estilos de liderezgo de los fundadores (Bill and Dave), no se si este sea el libro para que pases de ser bueno a grandioso pero si duda debe de estar en la repisa o en tu colección para ser mejor persona individuo o profesionista. Muy recomendable si te gustan los datos.

I really appreciate an effort which was necessary to prepare conclusions from this book. Simple rules which can help resolve or even avoid many problems which are common in each organization.

Chapters are definitely too long, they could be 3 times shorter. Too often author repeats very similar conclusions so sometimes it makes that book tough to read and boring.

It was mildly entertaining to read this book 20+ years after it was written. The list of good to great companies gave my coworkers and me a good laugh (Philip Morris and Circuit City were two of the best). In the preface the author writes about a question that popped into his mind after finishing the manuscript. It was, “How much would someone have to pay me not to publish Good to Great?” He concluded even the hundred million dollar threshold couldn’t convince him to abandon the project. Good to Great didn’t appear to offer any breakthrough concepts, so I can’t quite figure out why Collins felt his message was so important. Not my favorite of the book club picks for work. In fact, it was a pretty painful read.

Inspiring, clear, practical. Wisdom that's almost too simple to be true. But such wisdom is the hardest to implement, isn't it?

buku ini buku yang ditulis berdasarkan riset bertahun-tahun yang serius, dan banyak sekali pemahaman yang sangat bertolak belakang sama pendapat umum yang sering kedengeran di dunia usaha, sbg contoh adalah pengidolaan orang dari luar untuk membuat perubahan yang radikal dalam suatu perusahaan, yang ternyata hanyalah sebuah pengaruh yang sangat kecil di perusahaan yang telah berhasil beranjak dari good to great..
salah satu yang paling menggema bagi gw setelah baca buku ini adalah tentang konsep landak yang merupakan salah satu kunci inti untuk berubah dari good to great..apa itu konsep landak, mending baca bukunya langsung aja, biar seru.

It's a book full of good insights and easy to read. But business are changing so fast, that I wonder if those findings are still valid...
Are the things that made companies good to great in the past still the thing that will make great companies today?
Those companies that were studied aren't the great companies of today (2017).

Bản tiếng anh sẽ đem lại khó khăn nhưng có lẽ sẽ dễ hiểu hơn tiếng việt.
Về nội dung, cuốn sách dường như là một nghiên cứu lớn, chi tiết và nghiêm túc về sự dẫn dầu.
Tôi có học hỏi nhiều điều qua các trang sách, do bố cục rõ ràng và dễ nhớ, nhưng với bản tính của người đã từng nghiên cứu, tôi không khỏi đặt ra những câu hỏi nghi ngờ về tính đúng đắn và xác thực.
Anyway, mỗi cuốn sách đều có thể gợi nên những ý tưởng mà chính nó cũng không tính trước được.

خوندم و بسیار عالی بود.
پونصد شرکت آمریکایی برررسی می شن و تنها یازده شرکت عالی انتخاب می شن
جیم کالینز می گه من کاری ندارم علم چی می گه
ولی تمام این یازده شرکت کارهایی رو انجام می دادن که من اونها رو توی این کتاب نوشتم.

فصل تفکر خارپشتی به من نکته ی مهمی رو یاد داد که بارها و بارها ازش تو مشورت دادن به دیگران استفاده کردم.
اینکه این شرکت ها تنها و تنها روی یک کار تمرکز داشتن، همون ضرب المثل مردی و کاری
اون یک کار امام سه ویژگی داره: علاقه داشتن، استعداد و درآمدزا بودن