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

by Collins, James C.

• ISBN13: 9780066620992
• ISBN10: 0066620996
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780062119209
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-04-15
• Publisher: HARPER BUSINESS
• More Book Details

Summary

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.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Preface	xiii
Good Is the Enemy of Great	1	(16)
Level 5 Leadership	17	(24)
First Who . . . Then What	41	(24)
Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith)	65	(25)
The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles)	90	(30)
A Culture of Discipline	120	(24)
Technology Accelerators	144	(20)
The Flywheel and the Doom Loop	164	(24)
From Good to Great to Built to Last	188	(23)
Epilogue: Frequently Asked Questions	211	(8)
Research Appendices	219	(42)
Notes	261	(26)
Index	287