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July 2004
Good to
Great
by Jim Collins
Jim Collins makes a fascinating
comparison between the companies that go from 'good to great' and
those that don't. I have quoted some key points to pique your interest.
Level 5 Leadership:
-
A level 5 leader is an individual who blends extreme personal
humility with intense professional will.
- Level
5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into
the larger goal of building a great company.
- Level
5 leaders look out the window to apportion credit to factors outside
themselves when things go well. At the same time, they look in
the mirror to apportion responsibility, never blaming bad luck
when things go poorly.
- Larger-than-life,
celebrity leaders who ride in from the outside are negatively
correlated with taking a company from good to great.
First
Who ...Then What:
-
The good-to-great leaders began the transformation by first getting
the right people on the bus (and the wrong people
off the bus) and then figured out where to drive it.
- The
'who' questions come before 'what' decisions - before vision,
before strategy, before organization structure, before tactics.
-
If you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to
motivate and manage people largely goes away.
- If
you have the wrong people, it doesn't matter whether you discover
the right direction; you still won't have a great company. Great
vision without great people is irrelevant.
The
Stockdale Paradox:
-
Retain faith that you will prevail in the end,
regardless of the difficulties.
- AND,
at the same time, confront the most brutal facts
of your current reality, whatever they may be.
The
3 Circles of the Hedgehog Concept:
- To
go from good to great requires a deep understanding of three intersecting
circles.
-
What you are deeply passionate about.
- What
drives your economic engine.
- What
you can be the best in the world at.
- In
the centre, where the three circles overlap is a BHAG
(Big Hairy Audacious Goal) - a huge and daunting goal - like a
mountain to climb. It is clear, compelling, and people 'get it'
right away. A BHAG serves as a unifying focal point of effort,
galvanizing people and creating team spirit as people strive toward
a finish line.
The
Culture of Discipline:
-
Build a culture around the idea of freedom and responsibility,
within a framework.
- Fill
that culture with self-disciplined people who are willing to go
to extreme lengths to fulfill their responsibilities.
- When
you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship,
you get the magical alchemy of great performance.
The
Culture of Technology:
- The
good-to-great companies used technology as an accelerator
of momentum, not a creator of it.
- They
never use technology as the primary means of igniting a transformation.
- Yet,
paradoxically, they are pioneers in the application of carefully
selected technologies.
The
Final Shift:
-
To make that final shift requires core values and a purpose
beyond just making money, combined with the key
dynamic of preserve the core / stimulate progress.
- Sustainable
transformations follow a predictable pattern of buildup and breakthrough.
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