Such a great companion to Good to Great!

Excellent and succinct explanations given by Collins between the similarities and differences between building greatness in Business and Social Organisations.

The book is more about the difference between a great for-profit business and a great non-profit business, than between good and great non-profits, even though the author states that the latter difference is much greater. I read this short monograph before I read Good to Great, and I think it would have been better to read it the other way around, because a lot of the concepts are not explained in as much detail. The information provided wasn’t particularly profound or ground-breaking to me, but it did make me think about a few characteristics of non-profits that haven’t thought about before. Nonetheless, the book was convincing and well presented, and I think many of the concepts, albeit a little abstract, are worth revisiting and applying in many business and social sector contexts.

Wonderful, insightful quick read.

MR recommedation

Excellent book that applies principles from the author's book, Good to Great, to the public sector (i.e. government and non-profit service sectors). I found his understanding of the difference between the public and business sectors to be insightful.

This book can be read alone, or after his book, Good to Great.

I touch on my thoughts on this monograph in my review of Good to Great, but basically I think it does an exceptional job of taking the already strong concepts in its parent book and applying them to the social sector.

From the viewpoint of 2017, I disagree with the inclusion of Bratten's NYPD as an example of "greatness" given disparities in policing behaviors and outcomes, but given the date this book was written and the change in social discourse between now and then, I find it understandable.

Collins is amazing. He does so much research and speaks so clearly with practical steps to his theoretical knowledge of problems. So many amazing things to implement into ministry.

This monograph had some interesting insights and used good examples to support them. I don't have major criticisms, other than the fact that it didn't feel particularly groundbreaking or revelatory. Good read but nothing special in my opinion.

Read this as part of my role on the EPDSC Board. I've heard references to the full book before and haven't had a chance to read it. This definitely piqued my interest in learning more about the concept.

I really appreciated how the author delineated which ideas were based on his research and which were untested hypotheses he plans to study but for now can share anecdotal examples.

There were many good takeaways but one I can apply to my own work is the idea that there simply aren't always metrics worth assessing and that qualitative assessment should be intentionally embraced in those areas to show where your intended outputs are being achieved. I also really like the distinction between inputs and outputs and that a big mistake often made in the social sector is measuring inputs as outputs. I see this all the time in the conduct world where folks want to know if our numbers are going down over time. Although there are certainly things we can do to reduce incidents of underage drinking, for example, on the whole, the important outputs for my work are the learning that happens as a result of a student's interaction in my office.

Fantastic. Crucial for anyone attempting to apply business ideals to the social sectors. Also crucial for anyone in the social sectors looking to get more business minded and organized.

To quote a brilliant former colleague, "Jim Collins makes me swoon." I've read and reread this booklet 3 different times, and I pick up something new every time. Its refreshing to look at a different paradigm from someone who gets that the work of non profits is not defined by the financial statement, but by the impact of the work. This is not earth shattering or new by any means, but its a damn good reminder of why we exist and how to start to think so we can go from being mediocre non profits to great. Every non profit manager and board member should read this.

Helpful strategic framework for someone working in the nonprofit world. I just wish the monograph included example Hedgehog diagrams of various nonprofits. Or even an example one. That would have been helpful for translating the framework into practice.