Okay, let's get this out of the way first: this book is DATED. It studies eleven companies that beat the stock market over a period of fifteen years, irrespective of industry (other comparison companies in the same industries did not produce the same results). Unfortunately, these eleven companies include Fannie Mae, Circuit City, Wells Fargo, and Philip Morris (??!?). The findings are ultimately interesting and I think the writers would argue that the recent performance of the companies don't affect the findings' validity, but boy is it a trip to read about Wells Fargo as a paragon of excellence in the year 2019.

James Collins wrote this with a large group of researchers, and the methodology and results are explained in more detail in the extensive appendices at the end of the book. They distill their findings into seven key themes around what helps a company go from mediocre to truly "great," which they define as beating the stock market by a certain margin over a long period of time. I realize that I am reading a business book and by default there needs to be a core metric by which we recognize businesses as "good" or "great," but I had some trouble with the complete disregard for social impact that powers this book. Collins says that looking at employee or social welfare would have introduced biases into the study, but I would also say that there is an inherent bias in defining a business's "greatness" solely by its stock returns and shareholder value—which is why you end up with Philip Morris in your group of "great" companies. (Your definition for success is not the same as mine!) It's also interesting that the research group tends to handwave around employee motivation, morale, and fulfillment for all of the "great" companies as a natural outcome of business success, but does not offer any metrics or background on this in the text of the book.

All that aside, I found some of the takeaways truly interesting:

* Charisma is detrimental to leadership: The good-to-great companies all had "Level 5" leaders, which the research group defines as a leader who is incredibly driven but extremely humble. The Level 5 leaders aren't charismatic or larger-than-life figures: they center their companies on one purpose and build strong systems that move the entire company in one direction. The true tell of this type of leader is if the company survives and flourishes after they leave (are you more worried about your CEO, or about the reality of your situation?). Charismatic outside leaders produced consistently worse results and the companies stagnated after their departure. It's also worth noting that executive compensation had absolutely no measurable effect on a company's success.

* Managing morale and motivation is largely a waste of time: If employees instinctively understand the vision of the company and how they contribute to its success, there is no reason to "motivate" or spend time managing change. I don't think this is ever 100% true (and it is precluded by the necessity to have the right people in the right roles), but I found this perspective interesting and the examples rang true to me.

* Stay focused on your central concept: The book refers to this as the "Hedgehog Concept," a term that I refuse to use. It combines the Venn diagram of these three things: (1) what are you truly passionate about? (2) what drives your economic engine? and (3) what can you be best in the world at? If you aren't driving towards an intersection of all three, you will not be able to achieve sustained results. This requires a culture of discipline throughout all levels of the company.

* Understand the brutal reality: The successful companies understood the "brutal facts of reality" when making business decisions and candidly discussed and planned for that reality. That sometimes requires an entire business shift to align yourself with your central concept. (When you see user or customer research that upends your assumptions, do not ignore it.) This also reinforces the need for long-term investment. The writers' point was that you cannot be an optimist ("this will all work out!"), but you must confront reality and simultaneously strongly believe that you will succeed, despite the odds. You also must create an environment where the truth is heard, which requires the leaders to ask questions, hold themselves to high standards, and build red-flag mechanisms to get advance notice of issues.

Anyway, I found the book both interesting and frustrating to read. The research team commits the cardinal sin of all business books, which is comparing every single concept to a famous thinker. Einstein did not model simplistic thinking (has this man ever read a proof of E = mc2? get back to me after you have done it) and Abraham Lincoln is not comparable to a CEO. I wish that these types of comparisons could be completely excised from our discourse. I rolled my eyes through much of this nonsense and it really detracted from my engagement with the book.

I also found it frustrating that diversity of thought and teams never comes up in this book. Every single CEO mentioned is a man, and most of the named executives at these companies are men. You can read into the concept of "getting the right people on the bus" as assembling the correct team, but then the book goes on to say that employee incentives and compensation matter much less than you think they do. That depends on who you are hiring and what their personal priorities are, and that will always differ for individuals. I did like that part of the leadership discussion hinges on whether internal or external leadership is better for a company; most of the Level 5 leaders in the book are internal choices, which intuitively makes sense because they are able to fully grasp the core concept and values of the company.

Finally, it is hilarious to read sentences like "Amazon.com, the reigning champion of e-commerce" and "today, we primarily use portables from companies like Dell and Sony." 2001 was a wild time. 2019 is a wild time!! In the last 18 years, these good-to-great companies have imploded in on themselves!! Hopefully, the lessons from this book endure longer than Fannie Mae's reputation.

-لماذا يجب علي أن أكون عظيمًا؟ ألا يكفي أن أكون ناجحًا ؟
لأن الأشخاص العظماء لا يبذلون مجهود أكثر من الاشخاص الجيدين، هم فقط يبذلونه بالطريقة الصحيحة .
-لمَ يجب أن أجعل من عملي ذلك عظيمًا؟
لأنك إن كنت تعمل في شئ تشعر بالشغف تجاهه، تطوره وتنميه، وتشعر بمغزى لما تفعله فمن الطبيعي أن ترغب بجعله عظيمًا. إن لم تكن تشعر بذلك تجاه ما تفعله، فعلى الأغلب أنت لا تقوم بالعمل الصحيح، والعملية برمتها تحتوي علي خطأ.
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لست مديرة تنفيذية أو رائدة أعمال أو حتى صاحبة مشروع صغير، لكن الكتاب بالنسة لي ليس فقط لهؤلاء ومؤسساتهم، هو للأنسان، للحياة بشكل عام .هذا من ناحية ، من ناحية أخرى فقد اكسبني معرفة أكبر بعالم الأعمال والشركات والمؤسسات، وأزاد من شغفى .
ماطلت عندما اقترحه أبي بحجة أنني لست شغوفة بهذا القسم من الكتب، لكنني أحببته، وساعود إليه كثيرًا في المستقبل لأستقي المزيد من الحكمة والخبرة والتجربة المنصهرة بين فصوله.
شكرٌ جزيل لفريق البحث الدؤب ، وللكاتب.

I read this in a leadership class and it was very appropriate. I will never be the CEO of a major company, but I will help run a household, participate in a church family, help lead a therapy team, and will have many more opportunities to lead. This book gave a lot of insight into why companies are able to climb in growth and industry, but that same insight can be applied in most of life circumstances where people are grouped together. I recommended this book to multiple people working in large companies, but also to my pastor at the time. It's relevant!

هم‌پوشانی مطالب این کتاب با مواردی از کتاب برتری خفیف برام جالب بود، با وجود اینکه یکی در حوزه کسب و کار، و دیگری در حوزه‌ی رشد شخصی است.
از خواندن این کتاب لذت بردم، و به افرادی که در تلاش برای توسعه‌ی شخصی و یا کسب و کار خود هستند پیشنهاد میدم.

This book is backed by years of research by a dedicated, objective team and it shows in the clarity of thought when it comes to the lessons/findings. All the reference tables and data in the appendix makes it feel like a textbook, although you can skip it if you're only reading it for the ideas. It does make it a good book to have in your shelf for reference or inspiration. Even though the book was published in the early 2000's, the learning still hold true as promised.

The hedgehog concept, and the analogy of having the right people on the bus are very handy during most conflicts in an organization/company. My favorite part was the last chapter where the author entertained one of his researcher's question about why someone should aim for greatness at all, when you can be just successful or good enough. I liked how the author addressed that. Plus, it's something everyone should think about. Get through the book so you can enjoy the ending!

A true classic…

I read this over 10 years ago as part of a training program at work and re-read (rather listened to the audiobook this time around) and it is still as good as I remembered it the first time.

The examples shared in this book are just fascinating to listen to - something about how big brands got their start gets me all happy inside as if it were my business lol.

I think this book is good for anyone in the business world or who works in an organization of any kind. I have been working in the corporate world for about 18 years now and I would be lying if I said all companies are fun to work for and all bosses know what they are doing.

Having a framework that shows, based on data, what good looks like is just so valuable to how you assess your current organization and even spot any red flags in its not so distant future. It’s always good to work at an organization that cares about its people, has a vision and stays true to its guiding principles.

This book was recommended to me by HEB (the quintessential Level 5 leader).

Can a good company become a great company and, if so, how? With these ingredients:

1) Level 5 Leadership– Good-to-great leaders are paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will. They are ambitious, but ambitious first and foremost for the company, not themselves.
2) First Who… Then What– These companies first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats–and only then did they figure out where to drive it.
3) Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith)-Every good-to-great company embraced the Stockdale Paradox: you must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, AND at the same time have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality.
4) The Hedgehog Concept- Take a complex world and simplify it. For example, Walgreens switched their focus from profit per store to profit per customer visit. They replaced all inconvenient locations with more convenient ones, preferably corner lots where customers could easily enter and exit from multiple directions. If a great corner location would open up just a half block away from a profitable Walgreens store in a good location, the company would close the good store (even at a cost of $1 million to get out of the lease) to open a great new store on the corner. In urban areas, the company clustered its stores tightly together, on the precept that no one should have to walk more than a few blocks to reach a Walgreens.
5) A Culture of Discipline– A culture of discipline combined with an ethic of entrepreneurship leads to a magical alchemy of great performance.
6) Technology Accelerators–Technology itself is not the primary means of igniting transformation but these companies are pioneers in the application of carefully selected technologies.

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.

سوال اصلی کتاب: آیا یک شرکت خوب می تواند به شرکتی عالی تبدیل شود؟ چگونه؟
کتاب نتیجه یک تحقیق کاملا مدون و علمی است که بر روی یازده شرکت آمریکایی و همتایان آنها انجام شده است. این شرکت ها بر اساس معیارهای مشخصی انتخاب شده اند که سابقه فعالیت سی ساله، عملکرد پایدار و ثابت در طول پانزده سال و ارزش سهام سه برابر بازار بورس از جمله آنها است.
کتاب بر اساس بررسی نقاط مشترک این شرکت ها راهکاری مرحله به مرحله ارائه کرده است که می تواند توسط دیگر شرکت های نیز استفاده شود. مهم ترین مواردی که در این راهکار وجود دارد عبارت است از:
1- برخورداری از فردی با قدرت رهبری عالی
2- انتخاب افراد منظم و شایسته وهماهنگ با اهداف سازمان و یا گروه شما
3- روبرو شدن با واقعیت های ناخوشایند
4- پیدا کردن زمینه کاری که در آن عالی هستید و کسب درآمد از طریق آن
5- ایجاد فرهنگی مبتنی بر نظم کاری و فکری
خواندن کتاب کمی خسته کننده است زیرا در آن نام شرکت ها و افراد زیادی وجود دارد که هیچ یک معروف نیستند و نویسنده با ذکر حقایقی که درباره این شرکت ها یافته است سعی می کند راهکار خود را تشریح کند.
می توان کتاب را اینگونه خلاصه کرد که برای رسیدن به سطح عالی به تمرکز در یک زمینه کاری و صبر نیاز است. بسیاری از این شرکت ها در مرز ورشکستگی بوده اند اما با رهبری یک فرد مناسب و با تمرکز بر روی یک فعالیت خاص و کمی خلاقیت و طی کردن زمانی نسبتا طولانی مثلا ده یا بیست سال توانسته اند به سطح عالی برسند.

First and foremost, Good to Great has no breakthrough concepts to offer. Collins is good at inventive metaphors and catch phrases to push concepts through but ultimately there is really nothing counter-intuitive or revolutionary about the results of this study.

That said, the concepts in the book might still be valuable for managers, CEOs and other professionals. Here is a brief summary of the book and a short tour on how to take your company from Good to Great:

Think of this as a time-line to be followed:

First step is: To have A 'Level 5 Leader'

- A self-effacing leader. A humble leader with a strong drive and indefatigable will for perfection. Someone who puts the company over personal success and never clamors for the limelight.

Second Step is: To First decide the Who question and then the What Question.

- So have a Level 5 Leader.

- Who then picks a great management team - Collins uses the metaphor of finding the right people for the bus and the right seats for them before deciding where the bus is going to be heading towards.

Third Step is: To understand all the basic facts about the situation and the company

- So we have the ideal top management in place.

- Who in turn now brainstorms to figure out a goal/direction for the company after taking into account all the data available, whether good or bad.

Fourth Step is: To implement the 'Hedgehog Concept'

- So they confront all the realities and decide on a direction

- Which is based on the ability of the company, the passion of the people in it and money making ability of the goal.

- This is called using 'The Hedgehog Concept' and the 'Three Circles Concept'. You have to choose the very intersection of these three circles as your driving direction. You might have a lot of interests/passions, your company might have a lot of money-making options and you might have a lot of competencies - BUT, the point of intersection of all three should be your ONLY core focus.

[It is called Hedgehog Concept by contrasting hedgehogs to foxes - foxes are wily and know a lot of things, hedgehogs are wise and one thing well. It is the equivalent to the old proverb of 'jack-of-all-trades and master-of-none']

THE HEDGEHOG CONCEPT

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Fifth Step is: To have Complete Faith and Honesty - Called the 'The Stockdale Paradox'

- Once you identify your defining goal using the Hedgehog Concept,

- Have complete and unwavering belief and faith in this audaciously ambitious goal (to be the best in the world in the direction/field chosen.

- At the same time maintain complete transparency and exposure to the brutal facts about the environment.

- Believe you will prevail, no matter what. Keeping faith in the goal even in the face of the direst contrary facts.

Sixth Step is: To instill a Culture of DIscipline in the organization

- Keep working very very hard with complete determination and without bravado towards overcoming those contrary facts and obstacles towards the singe goal/direction arrived at earlier.

Seventh Step and the Overarching Concept is: To Keep turning 'The Flywheel'

- Use the Culture of Discipline and Build Momentum with these little steps and successes and then take all caution to not upset the momentum by misguided side steps. - This is the Fly wheel concept.

Thus with Great Leadership, Great Understanding of Strengths & Weaknesses, Great Confidence, Great Focus, Great Determination and Great Discipline, consistently applied over 15-30 years makes for a great company.

The whole story can be summarized in this phrase: "Build up - Breakthrough - Flywheel!"

THE FLYWHEEL CONCEPT

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This diagram also gives a visual summary of the entire book and can be used as a ready reference.

Conclusion

So, in conclusion, 'Good to Great' by Jim Collins has nothing new to offer but still provides us with a concrete 5-year study and a plausible reason to follow such common sensical things such as finding the right people, understanding what we can best at, believing in ourselves and working hard until success eventually turns up. It is an optimistic and feel-good result that just might be simple enough to be true.

Just being good is not enough! Pursue greatness!!

Jim Collins, an expert in the field of leadership, introduced a story from Aesop’s Fables called “The Fox and the Hedgehog” in his own book “Good to Great.”

A fox is a cunning and beautiful creature. It is also fast, lean, and a proficient hunter. In contrast, a hedgehog is small, slow, and plump. Therefore, a hedgehog only concerns itself with finding food and caretaking its home. Every day, a fox thinks of strategies to hunt the hedgehog and bides its most opportune chance. However, when the fox attacks the hedgehog, the hedgehog will curl itself into a ball to protect itself. The fox ultimately fails and returns home to think of a new plan. Yet, the same result repeats itself every time. The fox ends up with nothing, and the hedgehog stands victorious.
The fox has much knowledge, but the hedgehog knows one critical piece of information. Great organizations are like the hedgehog. Like the hedgehog, great organizations think of easy, effective,
impactful action plans in the simplest methods. According to Collins, the hedgehog’s strategy concept of focusing on a single plan is born from understanding one’s own identity with accuracy and depth.

The book was "cited by several members of The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council as the best management book they've read."

Publishers Weekly called it "worthwhile", although "many of Collins' perspectives on running a business are amazingly simple and commonsense".


Holt and Cameron state the book provides a "generic business recipe" that ignores "particular strategic opportunities and challenges."

Steven D. Levitt noted that some of the companies selected as "great" have since gotten into serious trouble, such as Circuit City and Fannie Mae, while only Nucor had "dramatically outperformed the stock market" and "Abbott Labs and Wells Fargo have done okay". He further states that investing in the portfolio of the 11 companies covered by the book, in the year of 2001, would actually result in underperforming the S&P 500. Levitt concludes that books like this are "mostly backward-looking" and can't offer a guide for the future."

Collins reaffirmed that "The books never promised that these companies would always be great, just that they were once great."