By JimCollins ISBN 0066620996

Sequel to BuiltToLast, and in some ways a more interesting book.

BuiltToLast was mostly about companies that have always done the RightThing, so GoodToGreat was an attempt to identify companies that were "just OK" before they became "great".

Supposedly one of the most successful leadership book of the decade, however was also critized for lack of details for other companies to plan execution specifics.
* comments from the sample chapter of a book on investing company resources, at http://phptr.com/articles/printerfriendly.asp?p=176458

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The most interesting part is his idea of "Level 5 Leadership", which is a combination of personal humility (see ExtremeHumility) and professional will (ie, the job is more important than the person). Collins claims that such leaders are not really rare, but that it's rare for boards of directors to put them in charge of the company (as opposed to "heroic" leaders with big egos).

(The joke now is that anyone who claims to be a Level 5 leader probably isn't one, because that would prove they didn't have the necessary humility-- the correct line is "I'm not Level 5 yet, but I'm working on it".)

Other key factors he talks about are getting the right people on board ("First who, then what"), a culture of brutal honesty about the present combined with optimism about the future, and delayed gratification (none of the companies became "great" overnight).

When Collins asked CEOs what their secret was, most of them shrugged and said "we just did it"-- meaning that they were willing to '''do''' things that other companies just '''talked''' about. Collins claims that a lot of problems just fade away when people have support from a Level 5 leader at the top.

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I truly enjoyed the "Bus" metaphor.  Approximately:  "Get the right people on the bus, ''then'' decide where to take it."  A very good principle for small business.  Apparently a good one for huge corporations, as well. -- RobMyers

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CategoryManagementBook CategoryLeadership