Good to Great-Jim Collins

A team of 21 people, 5 years of research, analysing over 1435 companies' data and countless interviews to find out what makes companies to transform from good to great.

What did they discover?

1. Good-to-great companies' CEOs come from inside of the company and not hired from outside.

2. Strategy per se did not separate the good-to-great companies from their competitors.

3. Technology can accelerate a transformation but technology cannot cause a transformation.They say, twenty percent of their success is the new technology that they embrace and eighty percent of their success is in the culture of the company.

4. Mergers and acquisitions play virtually no role in igniting a transformation from good to great, two big mediocrities joined together never make one great company.

5. They didn't just focus on what to do but they also focus on what not do. They are like Hedgehog with simple and clear idea, they see what is essential and ignore the rest.

How did they go from good to great?

1. Three simple processes- Disciplined people, Disciplined thought and Disciplined action.

2. Endless restructuring and mindless hacking were never part of the good-to-great model.

3. There was no single defining action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no solitary luck break or no wrenching revolution.They produced a truly revolutionary leap in results but not by a revolutionary process.

4. Greatness is not a function of circumstance.Greatness it turns out is largely a matter of conscious choice.

How about the leaders in these good-to-great companies?

They found that most of them are modest, humble, shy, willful and fearless, quite reserved.

How are their employees?

They are ordinary people producing extraordinary results.

How is their culture?

1. These companies create an environment where hardworking people would thrive and lazy workers would either jump or get thrown right off the bus- People are not your important asset, the right people are!

2. They placed greater weight on character attributes than on specific educational background, practical skills,specialized knowledge or work experience.

3. They hired self-disciplined people who didn't need to be managed and then managed the system,not the people.

4. They encourage 'freedom and responsibility' within the framework of highly developed system.