Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

Jim Collins and his team of researchers have surveyed over 1,400 companies, systematically analysed 6,000 publicly available articles, and carried out numerous face to face interviews with senior managers. The finding, the single most important factor to the health of a company - Leadership. The author asserted that they purposely steer away from such attribute as there are no shortage of business books paying the same platitude.

Every company vision statement reads like the next one. When did anyone last read a company which doesn't claim its employee is its greatest asset ? Yet, most see it fit to outsource its most critical function - finding the "right people". If every great company gets it right, there wouldn't be much of a recruitment industry. Recruitment agents will becomes redundant. It is the responsibility of every employee to find the right co-workers. Wait, isn't Google doing exactly that ? Jack Welch, John Chambers, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have all said their main job was to find the right people. Hire the right people first, then create a position to suit the person. Find passionate people, find people with integrity, find someone who would run the company like he/she owns it, hire this person straight away. This is how the author puts it,

"Widen your definition of "right people" to focus more on the character attributes of the person and less on specialised knowledge. People can learn skills and acquire knowledge, but they can not learn the essential characters traits that make them right for your organisation."

Since the publication of Good to Great it has attracted some criticism, primarily for its selection of what's on the Great company list. Much of the companies have since fallen on hard time, a few short years after its publication. Those views are some what misplaced. Good to Great doesn't give investment advice. It study the companies and the people that runs them, and dismissed a few myths along the way. Great leaders are often media shy, less worry about management "buy in" and much prefer hearing the truth, and definitely less charismatic than the media like to portray. A CEO should be working for the good of the company, and less about building his/her own personal profile. The big personality, the management superstar, the hyper arrogant (often misunderstood as self confidence) work against an environment in which employee are encouraged to take calculated risks, and find innovative solutions.

"Good to Great" is an exceptional analytical review, focused on leadership, documenting the attributes of leaders of enduring great companies. The text effectively differentiates the leadership attributes of great companies from enduring great companies.

Stock findings aside, this book has good talent management strategies, including getting the right people on the bus and making sure everyone is going towards the same goal. Nothing revolutionary, but still helpful. I also found the monograph Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great helpful in the non profit arena.

This book is easy and interesting reading. Not only is it required text for my class, but the Vice President of the company that I work for actually told me to read it. Imagine her surprise when I informed her that it was required reading for my masters in social work class.

Great practical ideas. How refreshing it is to see a passionate individual pursue an idea to completion and take the time to fully investigate all possibilities.
It's been a great addition to my book club at work.