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on May 17, 2017
Jim Collins presents many interesting business concepts throughout Good to Great. The research conducted for this book is complicated however Collins simplifies the process to more clearly explain why some things were included or omitted. Through the research, many concepts are presented and then emphasized using comparisons between two similar companies. At times the transformation of a specific company solely based on use of the concepts seems hard to believe. However Collins does give enough evidence to support the importance of the concepts to be used as tools to help the company transition from good to great. The concept being the most important in my opinion was having upper management to be brutally honest. Many companies fail to face the facts and it's easy to see in this book the consequences. The book was published about 15 years ago and since then one of the “great” companies has gone out of business (Circuit City) and another one is currently in trouble (Wells Fargo). So it is interesting to analyze what concepts the companies stopped implementing that made them so successful years ago. Overall this book was an interesting and easy to understand read that appeals to not just those in upper management, but also to those who want to know what can make a company great.
on May 20, 2014
Good to Great by Jim Collins is in a category of its own in terms of what is has to offer already-established business owners. With many books out on the market today, various and random points outline what one should do in order to make more money, establish a company, or get out of debt. Jim Collins, however, makes it a point to create a specific process with categories or rules and regulations, the purpose of which is to make it easy for one to see the progress right in front of eyes rather than guessing where they might be.
To start, a helpful feature on the first page of every chapter is a graphic giving a visual of where the current discussion is. The main categories mentioned consist of disciplined people, action and thought, with a buildup and breakthrough phase occurring in the middle of disciplined thought. The author puts great emphasis on starting the good to great process at a slow crawl first, in order to get the so-called “flywheel” moving. As this flywheel turns faster and faster (buildup stage), it is natural for the individual following the correct steps to see the fruits of their labor, whatever that may be; increased profits, more customers, etc (breakthrough phase). Collins makes it a point that even at this stage, the previous steps outlined cannot be ignored. If they are, the flywheel that was turning so effortlessly will grind to a halt. Simply put, there is no progression without remembering what you did to get there in the first place!
One of the most helpful pieces of Good to Great deals with the approach known as “The hedgehog Concept.” After achieving buildup to greatness within your business, the breakthrough result is had by mastering this concept. It consists of making sure your company follows three important points: Doing only what you are deeply passionate about, doing only what you can be best in the world at and doing what will drive your economic engine. Having your company follow these three mantras will help the “good to great” mechanism immensely. To serve as an example, Collins mentions Abbott laboratories, where, along with level 5 leadership, a complete change in product base was achieved from pharmaceuticals to hospital nutritional products due to the realization that they could no longer be the best at what they manufactured previously.
Overall, Good to Great was a very inspirational read. The examples and statistical nature of the book is especially great for those with a background in such fields. If you’re looking to help propel your business to new heights, I would definitely recommend this book.
To start, a helpful feature on the first page of every chapter is a graphic giving a visual of where the current discussion is. The main categories mentioned consist of disciplined people, action and thought, with a buildup and breakthrough phase occurring in the middle of disciplined thought. The author puts great emphasis on starting the good to great process at a slow crawl first, in order to get the so-called “flywheel” moving. As this flywheel turns faster and faster (buildup stage), it is natural for the individual following the correct steps to see the fruits of their labor, whatever that may be; increased profits, more customers, etc (breakthrough phase). Collins makes it a point that even at this stage, the previous steps outlined cannot be ignored. If they are, the flywheel that was turning so effortlessly will grind to a halt. Simply put, there is no progression without remembering what you did to get there in the first place!
One of the most helpful pieces of Good to Great deals with the approach known as “The hedgehog Concept.” After achieving buildup to greatness within your business, the breakthrough result is had by mastering this concept. It consists of making sure your company follows three important points: Doing only what you are deeply passionate about, doing only what you can be best in the world at and doing what will drive your economic engine. Having your company follow these three mantras will help the “good to great” mechanism immensely. To serve as an example, Collins mentions Abbott laboratories, where, along with level 5 leadership, a complete change in product base was achieved from pharmaceuticals to hospital nutritional products due to the realization that they could no longer be the best at what they manufactured previously.
Overall, Good to Great was a very inspirational read. The examples and statistical nature of the book is especially great for those with a background in such fields. If you’re looking to help propel your business to new heights, I would definitely recommend this book.
on September 9, 2016
So here's how the companies listed did over the last 10 years since I bought the book:
Abbott: Great
Circuit City: Out of Business (Thanks Amazon!)
Fannie Mae: Bad due to housing crisis
Gillette: Bought by P&G
Kimberly-Clark: Great
Kroger: Great
Nucor: Flat
Philip Morris: Good
Pitney Bowes: Slowly running out of business
Walgreens: Great
Wells Fargo: Good considering financial crisis
Abbott: Great
Circuit City: Out of Business (Thanks Amazon!)
Fannie Mae: Bad due to housing crisis
Gillette: Bought by P&G
Kimberly-Clark: Great
Kroger: Great
Nucor: Flat
Philip Morris: Good
Pitney Bowes: Slowly running out of business
Walgreens: Great
Wells Fargo: Good considering financial crisis
on May 20, 2014
“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.
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.
on October 20, 2016
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.
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.
on February 16, 2016
It was a good read. It took me awhile to finish than most books but that's because I love stories (novels). It was interesting and it amazed me most how diligently the author and his team worked so hard to get all the facts and information for this book. I read this book because my boss for some reason says it is his favorite and I was curious. It was inspirational reading the stories of different CEO's/Presidents of companies. I definitely agreed with all of the lessons this book has taught too. I believe that if you are running a company and that it is in your heart to run it and you love what you are doing, plus, even show it... then your employees will soon follow and even go the extra mile for you. You will not see many of those around.
on November 26, 2012
This book was the main focus of a class I took. We take for granted the products and services that many companies provide and pay little attention when these companies fail. Most of all we don't pay attention to the very basic ideas that cause a company to fail. It is obvious that the authors put in a great deal of effort in picking and analyzing these companies. I thought it was a great read and has many ideas that companies should and could benefit from.
For our class we had to interview a top level executive of a local company. This was during the deepest part of the recession and many companies were going through very trying times. We were able to interview a second generation President of a very large steel company. The first thing he told us when we sat down was that he had read the book in graduate school and tries to apply these ideas every day. The scheduled one hour interview went on for 4 hours. He had an amazing amount of information on the real world application of the concept and ideas of the book and it really showed me that this book has some great ideas that many companies could benefit from. He really spelled out the foundation of his company and how it has benefited from the ideas provided in the book. Determining his niche, finding the right people and putting them in the right spot, the hedgehog concept, etc. were all contributed to his success and ability to ride out the recession. I highly recommend this book.
For our class we had to interview a top level executive of a local company. This was during the deepest part of the recession and many companies were going through very trying times. We were able to interview a second generation President of a very large steel company. The first thing he told us when we sat down was that he had read the book in graduate school and tries to apply these ideas every day. The scheduled one hour interview went on for 4 hours. He had an amazing amount of information on the real world application of the concept and ideas of the book and it really showed me that this book has some great ideas that many companies could benefit from. He really spelled out the foundation of his company and how it has benefited from the ideas provided in the book. Determining his niche, finding the right people and putting them in the right spot, the hedgehog concept, etc. were all contributed to his success and ability to ride out the recession. I highly recommend this book.
on June 1, 2012
Jim Collins's millions seller, "Good to Great" is highly recommended to not only business people, but also any non business related individual who is wishing to change from good to great in general. Even though this is the research book showing about how mediocre companies became great companies with distinct characteristics explained by Jim Collins, I think these characteristics can be applied or related to any person or student in the same way mediocre companies applied themselves in the book.
There are seven characteristics of good to great companies are explained by the author. The reason I can relate these characteristics to any non business related individual is that these characteristics are so basic that most people may regard as common sense. However, the author analyzed these common sense characteristics with research data from tireless effort of his research team. With the author's enough backup examples from these research data, there is nothing to doubt about how these characteristics promise from good to great.
Although some of examples of good to great companies in the book are gone or bankrupted as of now, this fact should not deter you to read this book. A lot of things happened in last decade including 9/11 and global recession. I guess his following book, "How the might fall" which came 2009 would answer why some of his examples of good to great companies were fell after he published "Good to Great" in 2001. To conclude, I found this book very helpful to re construct my leadership mentality as well as organization skill in general. Even though I'm not related to business management, I enjoyed this book by paralleling by myself with his stories. Again, as I mentioned above, I would recommend this book to not only business people, but any individual who wants to change his status from good to great.
There are seven characteristics of good to great companies are explained by the author. The reason I can relate these characteristics to any non business related individual is that these characteristics are so basic that most people may regard as common sense. However, the author analyzed these common sense characteristics with research data from tireless effort of his research team. With the author's enough backup examples from these research data, there is nothing to doubt about how these characteristics promise from good to great.
Although some of examples of good to great companies in the book are gone or bankrupted as of now, this fact should not deter you to read this book. A lot of things happened in last decade including 9/11 and global recession. I guess his following book, "How the might fall" which came 2009 would answer why some of his examples of good to great companies were fell after he published "Good to Great" in 2001. To conclude, I found this book very helpful to re construct my leadership mentality as well as organization skill in general. Even though I'm not related to business management, I enjoyed this book by paralleling by myself with his stories. Again, as I mentioned above, I would recommend this book to not only business people, but any individual who wants to change his status from good to great.
on June 7, 2013
Good to Great by Jim Collins is a fantastic book that covers multiple characteristics of companies that excelled phenomenally in the stock market. The characteristics of "great" companies that Collins' research team looked for were 15 years of returns at or below the stock market average, followed by a transition and 15 years of returns 3 times higher than the average. The companies that fit these main criteria were studied, and the common characteristics that propelled these companies to greatness were covered in great detail.
All of the concepts that were exhibited by "great companies" mentioned in the book are important, but some of the ones that I found most critical to the success were: Cultivating Level 5 Leadership, Creating a Culture of Discipline, and the Hedgehog Concept. Collins does a great job at providing an in-depth analysis of all of the characteristics that make a company "great", and goes above and beyond by providing many real-world examples of the concepts that were expressed by these companies and their executives. Collins also does a great job at emphasizing the traits that companies and leaders must have before they can transition into greatness. I found it helpful that when comparing great companies with regular companies, Collins gave numerous examples of the "great" characteristics that the regular companies didn't adhere to. The only negative thing that I must mention about this book is that there were multiple occasions where the concepts would be repeated, which made the reading seem a little redundant at times.
I would definitely recommend this book to any aspiring business executive, aspiring leader, or any business professional looking to find ways enhance their leadership ability. I think that this book should be a required read for all business executives, because it has the potential to change ideas of how a business should be run. On a more personal level, I will be the president of a club in the upcoming year. There are many good to great concepts that I have taken from this book that will assist me in becoming a better leader, and I believe they will assist my club and its officers in achieving greatness.
All of the concepts that were exhibited by "great companies" mentioned in the book are important, but some of the ones that I found most critical to the success were: Cultivating Level 5 Leadership, Creating a Culture of Discipline, and the Hedgehog Concept. Collins does a great job at providing an in-depth analysis of all of the characteristics that make a company "great", and goes above and beyond by providing many real-world examples of the concepts that were expressed by these companies and their executives. Collins also does a great job at emphasizing the traits that companies and leaders must have before they can transition into greatness. I found it helpful that when comparing great companies with regular companies, Collins gave numerous examples of the "great" characteristics that the regular companies didn't adhere to. The only negative thing that I must mention about this book is that there were multiple occasions where the concepts would be repeated, which made the reading seem a little redundant at times.
I would definitely recommend this book to any aspiring business executive, aspiring leader, or any business professional looking to find ways enhance their leadership ability. I think that this book should be a required read for all business executives, because it has the potential to change ideas of how a business should be run. On a more personal level, I will be the president of a club in the upcoming year. There are many good to great concepts that I have taken from this book that will assist me in becoming a better leader, and I believe they will assist my club and its officers in achieving greatness.
