Good to Great

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Level 5 First Who… Confront the Hedgehog Culture of Technology

Leadership Then What Brutal Facts Concept Discipline Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action
 Good to Great

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Level
Level 5
5 First Who… Confront the Hedgehog Culture of Technology
Leadership
Leadership Then What Brutal Facts Concept Discipline Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action
 Level 5 Leadership

5–Level 5 Executive

4–Effective Leader

3–Competent Manager

2–Contributing Team Member

1–Highly Capable Individual

 Level 5 Leadership
 Leaders who employ a paradoxical mix of
personal humility and professional will
 Set up successors for even greater
success
 Compelling modesty, self-effacing,
understated
 Fanatically driven to 5–Level 5 Executive

produce sustainable 4–Effective Leader

results 3–Competent Manager
 More plow horse than2–Contributing Team Member
show horse
1–Highly Capable Individual
 Level 5 Leadership

 Attribute success to
other than themselves
 Look in mirror and 5–Level 5 Executive

take full responsibility 4–Effective Leader

for poor decisions 3–Competent Manager
 Many people have the
2–Contributing Team Member
potential to evolve
1–Highly Capable Individual
into Level 5
 Good to Great

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Level 5 First
First Who…
Who… Confront the Hedgehog Culture of Technology
LeadershipThen WhatBrutal Facts Concept Discipline Accelerators
Then What
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action
 First Who . . . Then What

 Leaders began the

transformation by
first getting the
right people on the
bus (and the
wrong people off
the bus).
“Who” questions came before “what”
decisions - before vision, strategy,
organization structure, and tactics.
 First Who . . . Then What
 Leaders were rigorous, not ruthless in
people decisions.
 Three practical disciplines for being
rigorous:
When in doubt, don’t hire
When you know you need to make a
people decision, act
 Put your best people
on your best
opportunities, not
biggest problems
 First Who . . . Then What
 Management teams debate vigorously
to find best answers, yet unify behind
decisions.
“Right” person has
more to do with
character traits and
innate capabilities
than with knowledge,
background, or skills.
 Good to Great

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Level 5 First Who… Confront theHedgehog Culture of Technology

Confront the
Leadership Then What Brutal
BrutalFacts
Facts Concept Discipline Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action
Confront the Brutal Facts

 Setting off on the path

to greatness requires
confronting the brutal
facts of current reality.
 Must create a culture
wherein people have a
tremendous opportunity
to be heard and,
ultimately, for the truth
to be heard.
Confront the Brutal Facts
 Four basic practices:
 Lead with questions, not
answers
 Engage in dialogue and
debate, not coercion
 Conduct autopsies,
without blame
 Build red flag
mechanisms where
information cannot be
ignored
Confront the Brutal Facts

 Stockdale Paradox:
Retain absolute faith
that you can and will
prevail in the end,
AND at the same time
confront the most
brutal facts of your
current reality,
whatever they might
be.
 Good to Great

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Hedgehog
Level 5 First Who… Confront the Hedgehog Culture of Technology
Leadership Then What Brutal FactsConcept
Concept Discipline Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action
Hedgehog Concept

 Hedgehogs simplify a
complex world into a
single organizing idea,
a basic principle or
concept that unifies
and guides everything.
 Hedgehogs see what is
essential, and ignore
the rest.
 Hedgehog Concept
 The Hedgehog Concept is a deep
understanding of three intersecting
circles translated into a simple,
crystalline concept:
 What you are deeply
passionate about
 What you can be best
in the world at
 What drives your
economic engine
 Hedgehog Concept

Simplicity
What you are deeply within
passionate about the three
circles

What you can What drives

be the best in your
the world at economic
engine
 Hedgehog Concept
 Getting the Hedgehog Concept takes an
average of four years.
 It is an iterative process by The Council:
 The right people
 Engaged in vigorous
dialogue and debate
 Infused with the
brutal facts
 Guided by questions
formed by the three
circles
 Hedgehog Concept
All Guided by Ask Questions An Iterative
the Three Circles Process

Autopsies The Dialogue &

& Analysis Council Debate

Executive
Decisions
 Good to Great

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Level 5 First Who… Confront the HedgehogCulture

Culture ofofTechnology
Leadership Then What Brutal Facts Concept Discipline
Discipline Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action
 Culture of Discipline
 Getting disciplined people
who engage in disciplined
thought and who then take
disciplined action,
fanatically consistent with
three circles
 People who “rinse their
cottage cheese”
 Not about a tyrant who
disciplines
 Culture of Discipline

 Involves a duality.
 Requires people who
adhere to a consistent
system.
 Gives people freedom and
responsibility within
framework of that system.
 Culture of Discipline
 Includes willingness to shun opportunities
that fall outside the three circles.
 Budgeting is to decide which arenas fit
Hedgehog Concept and should be fully funded
and which should not be funded at all.
 “Stop doing” lists are
more important than “to
do” lists.
 “Anything that does not
fit with our Hedgehog
Concept, we will not do.”
 Good to Great

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Level 5 First Who… Confront the Hedgehog Culture ofTechnology

Technology
Accelerators
Leadership Then What Brutal Facts Concept Discipline Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action
 Technology Accelerators
 Good-to-greats avoid technology fads and
bandwagons.
 Yet they often become pioneers in the
application of carefully selected
technologies.
 Does it fit directly with
your Hedgehog Concept?
 Good-to-greats used
technology as an
accelerator of momentum,
not a creator of it.
 Technology Accelerators

 Technology by itself is never a root cause of

either greatness or decline.
 “Crawl, walk, run”
can be a very
effective approach,
even during times of
rapid and radical
technological
change.
 Good to Great

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Level 5 First Who… Confront the Hedgehog Culture of Technology

Leadership Then What Brutal Facts Concept Discipline Accelerations
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action

Flywheel
 The Flywheel
 Good-to-great
transformations never
happened in one fell
swoop.
 There was no single defining action, no
grand program, no one killer innovation, no
solitary lucky break, no miracle moment.
 Instead they followed a predictable pattern
of buildup and breakthrough.
 Like pushing on a giant, heavy flywheel, it
takes a lot of effort to get the thing moving at
all, but . . .
 The Flywheel

 With persistent pushing . . .

 In a consistent direction . . .
 Over a long period of time . . .
 The flywheel builds momentum . . .
 Eventually hitting a point of breakthrough.
 In good-to-great companies problems of
commitment, alignment, motivation, and
change largely take care of themselves.
 Alignment follows from results and
momentum, not the other way around.
 Good to Great

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Level 5 First Who… Confront the Hedgehog Culture of Technology

Leadership Then What Brutal Facts Concept Discipline Accelerators
Disciplined People Disciplined Thought Disciplined Action