Good to Great - by Jim Collins
Good to Great By Jim Collins
I found my reading of Good To Great by Jim Collins very informative and even entertaining. It is interesting to me his concepts and perceptions and how although when you read them they seem rather elementary and obvious, Mr. Collins is indeed an outside the box thinker/writer and it is because of his ease of explaining his concepts that the message simply comes across as easy. The main idea that is presented in this book is that “Good is the Enemy of Great.” At first glance I had to re-read the statement to make sure I understood it correctly. My immediate response was to understand it as all too often people, and business decision makers, have a simple goal of being good at what they do. Mr. Collins and his research team were able to whittle that idea down to a handful of concepts that although many have the perception are good, but don’t clarify their exact goals of greatness.
The first concept of Good To Great was Level 5 Leadership. Companies may have great product, great sales, great marketing, etc. but what makes them better than Good? What makes takes them to the Great level? Their Leadership. During the research of this book Mr. Collins and his team identified multiple characteristics these leaders had that lead their company above and beyond just the Good status. Of these the common factor I understood was that of humility and giving credit to his surrounding personnel. Keeping the focus off of “look what I did” but rather keeping the focus off them, but at the same time taking responsibility for the mistakes of the company as a whole that they were in charge of looking after. These personalities also showed a great level of commitment and loyalty to their companies and tended to have been promoted from within. Thus having a firm understanding of the culture of the company and knowing a long term goal of the company.
Secondly the book introduced the concept of “First Who, Then What”. I related this concept to the phrase
I found my reading of Good To Great by Jim Collins very informative and even entertaining. It is interesting to me his concepts and perceptions and how although when you read them they seem rather elementary and obvious, Mr. Collins is indeed an outside the box thinker/writer and it is because of his ease of explaining his concepts that the message simply comes across as easy. The main idea that is presented in this book is that “Good is the Enemy of Great.” At first glance I had to re-read the statement to make sure I understood it correctly. My immediate response was to understand it as all too often people, and business decision makers, have a simple goal of being good at what they do. Mr. Collins and his research team were able to whittle that idea down to a handful of concepts that although many have the perception are good, but don’t clarify their exact goals of greatness.
The first concept of Good To Great was Level 5 Leadership. Companies may have great product, great sales, great marketing, etc. but what makes them better than Good? What makes takes them to the Great level? Their Leadership. During the research of this book Mr. Collins and his team identified multiple characteristics these leaders had that lead their company above and beyond just the Good status. Of these the common factor I understood was that of humility and giving credit to his surrounding personnel. Keeping the focus off of “look what I did” but rather keeping the focus off them, but at the same time taking responsibility for the mistakes of the company as a whole that they were in charge of looking after. These personalities also showed a great level of commitment and loyalty to their companies and tended to have been promoted from within. Thus having a firm understanding of the culture of the company and knowing a long term goal of the company.
Secondly the book introduced the concept of “First Who, Then What”. I related this concept to the phrase