Good to Great (Hardcover, 2004)

Good to Great (Random House Business, 2004) – Jim Collins

Can a good company become a great one, and if so, how? Jim Collins and his research team spent five years searching for the answer. They identified a small group of companies that had moved from average performance to sustained outstanding results, outperforming the stock market by a wide margin for at least fifteen years, and compared them with similar companies that failed to make the leap.

The findings, presented in Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t, overturned many common assumptions about leadership and success. Collins found that the transformations were not driven by charismatic celebrity CEOs, dramatic restructurings or the latest technology. Instead, the great companies shared a set of quieter, more disciplined characteristics.

Among the key concepts are Level 5 leadership, a combination of personal humility and fierce professional will; first who, then what, the practice of getting the right people on the bus before deciding where to drive it; confronting the brutal facts while keeping faith that you will prevail; the hedgehog concept, the intersection of what you are passionate about, what you can be best in the world at and what drives your economic engine; a culture of discipline; using technology as an accelerator rather than a cause; and the flywheel, the steady accumulation of momentum.

Rigorous yet readable, the book became one of the most influential business books ever written.

Good to Great is essential reading for executives, managers, entrepreneurs and leaders of nonprofit organizations who want to build lasting excellence.