Kind of confusing to read without the accompanying book.

An excellent book that takes G2G to a different level. All government employees should seek this book out.

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.

While $10 isn't an appropriate price for this kind of short text, it's still got a few excellent points and it's, ahem, a very quick read. You could probably come up with them on your own, but here it's written down to crystalize in your thoughts and return to when you feel stuck!

This book essentially is selection bias at its finest. Lots of things have been disproven / changed since then, but hell it’s a fun book for the fuck of it.

A monograph to accompany Collins’ Good To Great (which I haven’t read). The underlying principle of this “missing chapter” is that we don't need to impose the language of business on the social sector, but develop a language of greatness. He does this by focusing on five issues that he used in the book and tweaking them for a different mission and context.

The first is Defining Great (How do we calibrate success without business metrics?). Instead of money being an output, as it is in the business world, a quantifiable measure of success, in the social sectors money is only an input. Greatness here is measured by results (performance, impact, legacy) and is always an ongoing process. The next point is Level 5 Leadership (Getting things done within a diffuse power structure). Collins makes the point that without a clear hierarchy, or in the face of tenure in the case of colleges, true leadership is even more apparent in the social sectors. In business, CEOs can simply wield power. Here, leaders must inspire by their ambition for the cause. The third issue is “First Who” (Getting the right people on – and off – the bus within social sector constraints). Since the business model of firing and cross-promoting is not always as easy in the social sectors, especially those which rely heavily on volunteers, Collins suggest that leaders must simply create a pocket of greatness. Make this pocket selective, ambitious and meaningful, and the right people will come – and eventually, the mediocre ones will realize they’re in the wrong place. The fourth point is his Hedgehog Concept (Rethinking the economic engine without a profit motive). Here, Collins maintains the key concepts of “what you are passionate about” and “what you are best in the world at,” but replaces “what drives your economic engine” with “what drives your resource engine” – that is, how you best use the resources of time, money and brand. The last concept is Turning the Flywheel (Building momentum by building the brand, as each move you make builds on previous work and builds the foundation for future increases). As with Max DePree, I was impressed by Collins’ clarity of writing and the good solid sense he makes. Certainly, this is information that both educates and inspires.

read during the London trip, this seems to be an extension of "Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't", which I haven't read yet. Well structured when introducing the methods.

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.

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

3.5 stars
An intriguing glimpse at the difference between what it takes to measure greatness in the business world versus the nonprofit (or social sector) world. I just wanted more. 35 pages did not give more than a cursory introduction to the subject.
Now, I understand Collins's hesitation to say more. His other works involve years long research and interviewing. This is more of a glance at different ways his finding in Good to Great might play out differently when you're working with volunteers instead of employees, or mission rather than profit.
But mostly his questioning left me wanting a whole book on the subject.

A very short book — more like a really long blog post — aimed at people who loved "Good to Great" but are in the social sector and thus do not have profits by which to measure success. Again, he's got a few amazing real-life stories to illustrate the merits of his program for going from good to great, such as with the Cleveland symphony. He admits the topic deserves a full book but says it'll take 10 years to do and so this is a stopgap meant to answer the most common questions he's received from those in nonprofits, government or other parts of the social sector. Worthwhile but not essential. Grade: B+

This is not a book of earth-shattering new knowledge, but it is a clear, compelling, and concise reminder of where we're going and how to get there. Highly recommended!