Good to great transformations often look like dramatic, revolutionary events to those observing from the outside, but they feel like organic, cumulative processes to people on the inside. He has spent more than 10 years studying and analyzing how great companies achieve superior performance, grow and then perform consistently well. Consider spending at least 2 or 3 years of hard work before. This is how the author sets off a riveting journey explaining the findings from his and his teams half a decade of research in the. Jim collins jim collins is the founder of a management research laboratory in boulder, colorado. Good to great by jim collins book summary from the author of built to last, good to great outlines a model for turning a good, average or even mediocre company in to a great one. Buy good to great abridged by collins, jim, collins, jim isbn. Read good to great why some companies make the leap. Jim collins is a student and teacher of leadership and what makes great companies tick. The book includes a useful model which brings all the theory together in a meaningful and memorable way. In the journey from good to great, defining your hedgehog concept is an essential element. Separating the great from the good at a dinner collins was attending in 1996, a mckinsey managing director pointed out a flaw in built to last, collins s 1994 bestseller that explained how longlasting companies achieved their success.
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. Jul, 2010 good to great is an excellent book, filled with fascinating insights for the business leader, or anyone striving to make their organization great. Jim collins is coauthor of built to last, a national bestseller for over five years with a million copies in print. Hansen, enumerate the principles for building a truly great enterprise in unpredictable, tumultuous, and fastmoving times. Why do some companies thrive in uncertainty, even chaos, and others do not. Five years ago, jim collins asked the question, can a good company become a great company and if so, how. We dont have great government, principally because we have good government. Circuit city, another good to great, doesnt even exist anymore, at least by name and as a bricknmortar store. Good to great is an excellent book, filled with fascinating insights for the business leader, or anyone striving to make their organization great. Usa today collins and his research team have been tackling one of the biggest questions business has to offer. And others dont by jim collins available from rakuten kobo. Good to great by jim collins posted on march 8, 2012 by liz stinson some quick notes on some of my main takeaways not necessarily the full set of key points, rather the ones that spoke to me from jim collins great book good to great. You may be seeking to build something great that you will not find in your working life, but find it elsewhere.
As the recipe book for hoisting yourself to an initial stage of greatness, good to great is actually the prequel, collins says. After the leap, the goodtogreat 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 worlds greatest companies, including cocacola, intel, general electric, and merck. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a. It was an inherently iterative processconsisting of piercing. Mr collins says that when he charted the factors that led these firms to greatness, he had never claimed that they were. Researcher and management guru jim collins has authored or coauthored six books, including good to great and built to last. Collins that describes how companies transition from. After a fiveyear research project, jim collins concludes that good to great can and does happen. In this book collins and his research team analyze and compare numerous corporations in an attempt to identify what key aspects set apart successful companies. Why some companies make the leap and others dont jim collins the thesis of the book is that greatness is largely a matter of choice. Jim collins is author or coauthor of six books that have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide, including the bestsellers good to great, built to last, and how the mighty fall. In this book, he uncovers the underlying variables that enable. In this book, he uncovers the underlying variables that enable any type of organisation to make the leap from good to great while other organisations remain only good. You may find it in places of worship, a nonprofit or community organization, or a class you teach.
After a fiveyear research project, collins concludes that good to great can and does happen. This book is a must read before implementing the next big change or improvement program in your business, or hiring the next keyperson. Collins and his team carefully came up a study in determining if an already existing good company can be a great company. After the leap, the goodtogreat companies generated cumulative stock. But insight and understanding dont happen overnightor after one offsite. Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap. To find the keys to greatness, collinss 21person research team r. Good to great by jim collins book report by gary tomlinson preface. Successful habits of visionary companies good to great by jim collins, jerry i porras and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. James c collins built to last showed how great companies triumph over time and how longterm sustained performance can be engineered into the dna of an enterprise from the. Some of the key concepts discerned in the study, comments jim collins, fly in the face of our.
Good to great by jim collins is a book that has been sitting on my bookshelf for awhile now. The amount of research and analysis that has gone into this book is mindboggling. Uncertainty, chaos, and luckwhy some thrive despite them all good to great book 5 jim collins. 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. In good to great collins, the author of built to last, concludes that it is possible, but finds there are no silver bullets. Good to great episcopal diocese of central florida. 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. Jim collins, an expert in the field of leadership, introduced a story from aesops fables called the fox and the hedgehog in his own book good to great. We dont have great schools, principally because we have good schools. Collins that describes how companies transition from being good companies to great companies, and how most companies fail to make the transition. Before good to great, collins wrote the celebrated built to last, about visionary, iconic companies that have stood the test of time. Formerly a faculty member at the stanford university graduate school of business, where he received the distinguished teaching award, jim now works from his.
In this video, well summarize the key concepts of good to great, including. The challenge built to last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how longterm sustained. On average, it took four years for the goodtogreat companies to crystallize their hedgehog concepts. Rigorously supported by evidence, his findings are surprising at times even. After establishing a definition of a good to great transition that involves a 10year 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. Collins writes that good to great companies had no name for their transformations. Good to great by jim collins quickie book summary ebook. The book was a bestseller, selling four million copies and going far beyond the traditional audience of business books.
And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. Collins that aims to describe how companies transition from being average companies to great companies and how companies can fail to make the transition. Ten years after the worldwide bestseller good to great, jim collins returns to ask. Why some companies make the leap and others dont 8600383743. For years, preston and stig had an interest in reading this book, but they always seemed distracted by other things. In great by choice, collins and his colleague, morten t.
Based on a fiveyear research project comparing companies that made the leap to those that did not, good to great shows that greatness is not primarily a function of circumstance but largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline this book discusses concepts like level 5. In this book, he uncovers the underlying variables that enable any. Good to great this book addresses a single question. A student of enduring great companies, he serves as a teacher to leaders throughout the corporate and social sectors. In his new book mr collins examines 11 of the 60 great companies studied in his two earlier books that have since deteriorated to mediocrity or worse. Good to great jim collins hardcover harpercollins publishers. Jim began his research and teaching career on the faculty at stanford graduate school of business, where he received the distinguished teaching award in 1992. 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. The challenge built to last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time. Good to great by jim collins, first edition abebooks. Collins is good at inventive metaphors and catch phrases to push concepts through but ultimately there is really nothing counterintuitive or revolutionary about the results of this study. Fannie mae, praised as one of the banks to go good to great, has fallen into the trash heap since 2008 and has never recovered. As you can tell from my long synopsis of some of the books key points, i find good to great fascinating. Good to great by jim collins book summary paul minors.
Harper business good to great is jim collins most famous book. That said, i got so many recommendations to read jim collins book, good to great, that i couldnt resist. Goodtogreat companies think differently about the role of technology. The results of this analysis have been contained in the four books mr.
Good to great, jim collins shop online for books in. Good to great, jim collins shop online for books in australia. Oct 16, 2001 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 worlds greatest companies, including cocacola, intel, general electric, and merck. A book report on good to great by jim collins book report by gary tomlinson preface. The book was a bestseller, selling four million copies and going far beyond the traditional audience. How great leaders inspire everyone to take action simon sinek. This guide contains key points from the book along with discussion questions. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Jim collins is both a great researcher and an engaging writer, and he illustrates. In particular, two people that i trust intensely gillian and avinash kaushik said that they too, had a distaste for management theory diatribes, but loved this one.