Summary of Good to Great

Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Dont

By Jims Collins
Collins in his book Good to Great focused on identifying and reviewing the
factors that accelerated small fraction of companies to make the transition
from merely good to truly great companies and also maintained that status
for a long time (15 years). He identified a number of management, personal
and operational practices and attitudes that were supportive and restrictive
to the transition from the level of good to great.
In the first chapter of his book, Collins expressed that the greatness of any
company does not merely depend on these factors; technology,
compensation or change management initiative action as we were initially
made to believe, but rather on discipline (disciplined people, disciplined
thought and disciplined action).
He asserted that leadership is the major difference that demarcates the good
from great companies. The quality of leadership in any great company makes
the difference. He identified Level 5 Leadership which ranges from just
Competence to Executive decision-making. The Levels include;

Level 5 Executive: builds greatness through personal humility and

professional will.
Level 4 Effective Leader: motivates commitment, pursues clear and

compelling vision and initiates high performance standards.

Level 3 Competent Manager: Organizes people and resources toward

the effective and efficient pursuit of predetermined objectives.

Level 2 Contributing Team Member: Contributes individual capabilities
to the achievement of group objectives and works effectively with

others in a group setting.

Level 1 Highly Capable Individual: Makes productive contributions
through talent, knowledge, skills and good work habits.

The transformation from good to great is not by doing so many things well,
but instead being focused on doing one thing better than anyone else.
Identifying that singular thing to do might be difficult, but once it is identified
and worked upon, success is assured. Collins suggested three criteria that
will help;
1. Determine what you can be best in the world at and what you cannot
be best in the world at.
2. Determine what drives your economic engine.
3. Determine what you are deeply passionate about.
Many companies depend on technology to increase productivity and reduced
overall cost, however, Collins is of the opinion that technology should not be
seen as the solution to the challenges being faced by a company.
LESSONS LEARNT
We should develop a culture of discipline; creating a disciplined operation
We should not put all our focus on technology alone as the only means of
standing out amongst our peers in the industry but also on our work culture.
We should focus on getting people who are rigorous, willful, humble and
modest.