Collins' findings may shake up current perceptions of what it takes to make a company great. (The most crucial factor is to get the right people on the bus; charismatic leaders are a handicap; big change does not have to be wrenching, extreme, painful; you can't buy your way to greatness; people can't be motivated either by fear or by clever names or taglines for change programs...) The results from a five-year study of 11 companies that have sustained substantial gains over the market for 15 years speak for themselves - eloquently.

If you are serious about changing the course of your company and you only have time to read one book this year, GOOD TO GREAT should be the one. Hats off to Jim Collins, who was not content to sit back and grin after co-authoring the highly successful BUILT TO LAST, but tackled a book that should make an even greater impact on the future of businesses, large and small.

Favorite quote (Chapter 9): "Turning good into great takes energy, but the building of momentum adds more energy back into the pool than it takes out. Perpetuating mediocrity is an inherently depressing process and drains much more energy out of the pool than it puts back in... In the end, it is impossible to have a great life, unless it is a meangingful life. And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work."

This one's a keeper.


Too much hype   October 27, 2001
 35 out of 68 found this review helpful

I bought this book after reading a lot of gushing reviews. I was disappointed. To me the author still does not answer the question of things managers should do in growing their companies under extreme uncertainty. There are lot of feel-good moments but very little practical and useful advice.

Let me elaborate on this. I ran a B2B startup for several years. Yes, we wanted to build a great company. We had the vision, funding, the great people, and customers. Yet, we struggled to make the company work. The environment we were operating in went from "heaven" to "hell" in a matter of six months. Every operating plan we developed for "heaven" had to thrown out to adapt to "hell".

I know that one needs to build a company to last and all the other cliches, but when you are in the midst of war, with no map, uncharted terrain and running out of food (funding) -- few of the principles in this book apply. That's exactly the environment most companies are in today.

I am sure this book will do very well as many Fortune 1000 managers are now searching for comfort in a turbulent environment. The author probably will have many speaking engagements lecturing/cheerleading terrified managers who have never seen anything like this economy before. For instance, I predict that many retailers will be forced to go out of business by March. I wonder how the rules of this book help retailers survive this holiday season.


A book for the ages! Excellent for managers and start-ups   October 24, 2001
 101 out of 108 found this review helpful

Jim Collins, co-author of Built To Last, has done it again! This time he spent 5 years trying to find out what differentiates good companies from great companies. This study can be applied to entrepreneurial ventures and to current corporate America. After reading this book you may see your company from a much different perspective than in the past and it may have you thinking about the effectiveness of senior managers within your company. I believe it is a book that business executives will read and keep handy for reference.

This book is a study of companies that exceed their industry, the overall stock market and produce PHENOMENAL returns over a 15-year period (15 of them are very "normal" years and the next 15 years are full of explosive growth). Some key points you will take away from this book include:

1)Growth in most companies came after years and years of trying to adapt / mold a concept into something the company truly believed in. Once this happened the growth engine got going.
2)Great managers worry more about getting the right people on board and the wrong people off board BEFORE they establish a corporate stategy.
3)Most great CEOs came from within their own ranks and weren't recruited from the outside.
4)Executive compensation didn't appear to be a key driver of corporate performance
5)The respective great companies exceeded the overall stock market in creating shareholder value by at least 3x during their 15 year run measured (some for many more years). While some may say this is not much think about the steel industry and how many are filing for bankruptcy. Nucor Steel still managed to beat the S&P by more than 3x.
6)The great companies in this book blew away their comparable peer group. Wells Fargo vs. Bank of America, Kroger vs. other grocery chains, Walgreens vs. Eckerd, etc.
7)Collins describes a Level 5 leader. After reading this section I was amazed at how many CEOs I recognized as not being Level 5 leaders. This may, in the near future, shake up executive compensation plans, CEO searches and potentially affect corporate governance.
8)Technology accelerated a transformation but was regarded as a tool. It didn't define the company.
9)M&A activity played virtually no role in going from good to great.

That is all I will write about the book. I could write on and on about how good this book is. Read it. It will change the way you think about business. Other very good books on the principles of business and entrepreneurship are Leading at the Speed of Growth by Catlin and Mathews and The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Jack Trout and Al Ries.