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Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't Hardcover – Unabridged, October 16, 2001

by Jim Collins (Author)

2,502 customer reviews

in Strategic Business Planning

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The Challenge:
Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning.

But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness?

The Study:
For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great?

The Standards:
Using tough benchmarks, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. How great? After the leap, the good-to-great companies generated cumulative stock returns that beat the general stock market by an average of seven times in fifteen years, better than twice the results delivered by a composite index of the world's greatest companies, including Coca-Cola, Intel, General Electric, and Merck.

The Comparisons:
The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to make the leap from good to great. What was different? Why did one set of companies become truly great performers while the other set remained only good?

Over five years, the team analyzed the histories of all twenty-eight companies in the study. After sifting through mountains of data and thousands of pages of interviews, Collins and his crew discovered the key determinants of greatness -- why some companies make the leap and others don't.

The Findings:
The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice. The findings include:

Level 5 Leaders: The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness.
The Hedgehog Concept: (Simplicity within the Three Circles): To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence.
A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results. Technology Accelerators: Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology.
The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap.

“Some of the key concepts discerned in the study,” comments Jim Collins, "fly in the face of our modern business culture and will, quite frankly, upset some people.”

Perhaps, but who can afford to ignore these findings?

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't [Unabridged]

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Five years ago, Jim Collins asked the question, "Can a good company become a great company and if so, how?" In Good to Great Collins, the author of Built to Last, concludes that it is possible, but finds there are no silver bullets. Collins and his team of researchers began their quest by sorting through a list of 1,435 companies, looking for those that made substantial improvements in their performance over time. They finally settled on 11--including Fannie Mae, Gillette, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo--and discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success. Making the transition from good to great doesn't require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy. At the heart of those rare and truly great companies was a corporate culture that rigorously found and promoted disciplined people to think and act in a disciplined manner. Peppered with dozens of stories and examples from the great and not so great, the book offers a well-reasoned road map to excellence that any organization would do well to consider. Like Built to Last, Good to Great is one of those books that managers and CEOs will be reading and rereading for years to come. --Harry C. Edwards

From Publishers Weekly

In what Collins terms a prequel to the bestseller Built to Last he wrote with Jerry Porras, this worthwhile effort explores the way good organizations can be turned into ones that produce great, sustained results. To find the keys to greatness, Collins's 21-person research team (at his management research firm) read and coded 6,000 articles, generated more than 2,000 pages of interview transcripts and created 384 megabytes of computer data in a five-year project. That Collins is able to distill the findings into a cogent, well-argued and instructive guide is a testament to his writing skills. After establishing a definition of a good-to-great transition that involves a 10-year fallow period followed by 15 years of increased profits, Collins's crew combed through every company that has made the Fortune 500 (approximately 1,400) and found 11 that met their criteria, including Walgreens, Kimberly Clark and Circuit City. At the heart of the findings about these companies' stellar successes is what Collins calls the Hedgehog Concept, a product or service that leads a company to outshine all worldwide competitors, that drives a company's economic engine and that a company is passionate about. While the companies that achieved greatness were all in different industries, each engaged in versions of Collins's strategies. While some of the overall findings are counterintuitive (e.g., the most effective leaders are humble and strong-willed rather than outgoing), many of Collins's perspectives on running a business are amazingly simple and commonsense. This is not to suggest, however, that executives at all levels wouldn't benefit from reading this book; after all, only 11 companies managed to figure out how to change their B grade to an A on their own.

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Product details

Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: HarperBusiness; 1st edition (October 16, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0066620996
ISBN-13: 978-0066620992
Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 2,502 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #339 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1 in Books > Business & Money > Processes & Infrastructure > Strategic Planning
- #2 in Books > Business & Money > Management & Leadership > Systems & Planning
- #3 in Books > Business & Money > Biography & History > Company Profiles

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THE NEXT STEP: GREAT TO GREATER

Byrichard e whitelockon July 15, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

A wonderful anthology on the right and necessary steps a growing concern must continue to take if they are to remain viable in todays society and ready for the future.. As a CEO, you must be above the fray of everyday operations and keep a keen eye on the future and potential innovations. For example, when Sears gave up the catalog in the early 1990's, the potential of the internet was just beginning to raise its capacity to greatly influence a new way of doing business. If the Sears executives had not been so busy trying to save a buck and give up the catalog, maybe it could have retained its millions of dedicated shoppers and innovated along the lines of the internet that we know today as Amazon.

Bezos, of Amazon, was a hedge fund manager in the late 1980's. How did he become some a relevant whole seller with a revolutionary way of delivery in the late 90's. This is the clear message that I got from Good To Great. You must be willing to boldly assault the future and at the same time question if this is the right way to go. That way your organizations will not become complacent and our managerial core will be a group of activists and futurists. That's how you keep going from Great To Even Greater. Good To Great is fine. But now you must take the next step.

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

"...well, why wouldn't you go for greatness?"

ByRobert Wickmanon September 5, 2012

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

It has been ten years since I first picked it up Good to Great and, as expected, it is as valuable today as it was then. If you read it a while back and liked it, perhaps it is time to re-read it with fresh eyes and a decade of experience on your resume. There's so many fascinating discoveries in this book that anyone will find a few golden nuggets.

Jim spoke again this year at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, framing most of the presentation around the 1911 South Pole explorations by Roald Amundson and his rival, Robert Scott. Responsibility, leadership performance, and luck were the major themes. Collin's presentation got me thinking about the book again, and I decided to go back and re-read it. There's a ton of things I missed or forgot over the years, so I am thrilled to have the new learning.

Good to Great is the second in the series by the author, though it's really the starting point to the project (think Star Wars series?). Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies logically follows this one, and then concludes with How The Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In. Last year he released Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck--Why Some Thrive Despite Them All, which I have heard is excellent, also.

Early in the book we get a taste of what's coming: "Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice." The companies who made the leap made the choice to be great, and, through rigorous research, interviewing, and vetting, Jim and his team figured out how they did it and anyone else can. This saves us a lifetime of work trying to figure it out - just read the book and apply the learning. The book is very much a roadmap to success, if you have the courage to follow the path. Given that only 11 of 1,435 companies made the final cut, it's easy to see that this is not the path of least resistance, nor is it one for people who choose to argue with the findings. The data speaks for itself: either you choose to use this as a leadership development tool or you choose not to. Either way, you choose.

If you have the desire to be excellent and the will to do the work, along with a healthy dose of humility, this is the book series for you. Take a year to read all four, earnestly apply them in your life, and by this time next year you will be a vastly different person - for the better. Remember, Good to Great is not about doing more and burning yourself out, it's about doing what works and stop doing what doesn't. As the author states on page 208 "If it's no harder, the results better, and the process so much more fun - well, why wouldn't you go for greatness?" Well said, Jim.

0Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Great book for New Managers

ByJesus Gonzalezon May 20, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

“Good to Great” puts a new perspective on why many businesses hit a glass ceiling as they fall into a fallacy that they are good enough to perform their function. The book concentrates the examination of different companies that succeeded in going from good to great while attempting to warn about the dangers of those who do not break the threshold. The book contains many great ideas, such as the hedgehog concept, the level 5 leadership, and establishing a culture of discipline. Using these ideas, managers are encouraged to adapt these ideas for their own companies in order for them to break through the enemy of great, good. Many businesses believe that they are good enough, and therefore, will never reach greatness.
Jim Collin’s book is a little out dated as he uses Circuit City as a company that went from good to great. While the store may have prospered and did go to great, it may make future generation doubt the integrity of the concept. He also warns that technology should not be dependent to run a business. There are many small businesses that may see the advantage to this concept; many types of businesses are using technology to run a well working machine. Collin’s reasoning was the fall of the Dotcoms during the early 2000 that caused trouble to many startups at the time. Today, we all know that technology is far more reliable and it is a definite key in improving.
It is unfair, however, to discredit the book due to the fact that the book is a little old. The ideas are unique and excellent for those who are new to the management scene and continuous improvement. It is easy to read and provides steps to admitting that a company is not to their full potential and how to fix those shortcomings.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

Starts Slow, But Picks Up Quickly - Great Read!

ByAmazon Customeron July 18, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Phenomenal read. The beginning starts out a little slow with the explanation on how good to great companies were labelled. After this though a lot of real life examples how an attitude/culture and the right people can turn a company into one of the best! Great for managers wanting to elevate the performance of their company.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

A must read for managers

ByChristian Kyamatareon October 20, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This is definitely a must read for anyone looking for key management techniques to really manage anything great.

Pros: The concepts are intuitive and clear. Each one is workable and the examples are great tools for pushing the author's point home. The academic nature of this book helps reinforce the "breakthrough" trends that are identified. Additionally, the book does a good job of personalizing very complex business decisions.

Cons: Far too many of these companies ceased to be great. This information seems almost pointless when one considers (in a vaccum) the current status of these companies.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

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nice to read

this is fine to read

Published 3 days ago by Miguel Kelly

but I enjoyed this. I am not interested in being a ...

This is the first business book I've ever read, so I'm not very famillar with the genre, but I enjoyed this.Read more

Published 3 days ago by N

Four Stars

Made sure you buy the original as well. This add-on only goes with that.

Published 6 days ago by Kristina Gant

Loved this book, super easy to read

Leader? Innovator? Inspirer? This is a must-read for you!

Published 8 days ago by nilsd

Five Stars

A must have for anyone starting a business or looking to improve in their life.

Published 9 days ago by mary irving

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amazing book great and detail research tons of information

Published 10 days ago by Eduardo

Great book

Read it for a non-profit class. Easy to understand, straightforward and logical ideas. I'd highly recommend it to anyone wanting to evaluate the strengths of a non-profit or...Read more

Published 24 days ago by Charlotte Scholl

NEITHER GOOD NOR GREAT!

This book is neither good or great. It is a collection of pithy sayings and catch phrases. Circuit City was one of the Great Companies.Read more

Published 25 days ago by cowbowceltic

Inspirational!

I am only at Chapter 3 however, this book has already given me several different viewpoints. I am excited to collobrate with my team.

Published 25 days ago by Monique

It is a great book.

I am learning a lot from it. It is a great book.

Published 25 days ago by aklilu tilahun

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