Summary
Collins' seminal book on the shared characteristics of great companies as well as what sets them apart from the merely good. Collins demonstrates that good companies can become great and how they went about doing so.
Key Takeaways
Seven vital aspects of going from good to great
Level 5 Leadership - great leaders tend to be self-effacing, quiet, reserved, shy and have a blend of personal humility and professional will
First Who, Then What - get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus and the right people in the right seats - then figure out where to drive
Confront the Brutal Facts - must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end and at the same time have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality
Lead with questions, not answers
Engage in dialogue and debate, not coercion
Conduct autopsies, without blame
Build "red flag" mechanisms
The Hedgehog Concept - understand what is essential and ignore the rest
What you can be the best in the world at
What drives your economic engine
What you are deeply passionate about
A Culture of Discipline - When you have disciplined people, you don't need hierarchy, you don't need bureaucracy and you don't need excessive controls
Technology Accelerators - technology should never be the primary means of igniting a transformation
The Flywheel and the Doom Loop - going from good to great takes time but once the momentum is achieved it takes off
Good is the enemy of great
Findings:
Larger than life CEOs are negatively correlated with taking a company from good to great
No noticeable pattern between executive compensation and a company going from good to great
Strategy per se did not separate the good from the great
Great companies focused as much on what not to do as what to do
Technology can accelerate a transformation but technology cannot cause a transformation
M&A plays virtually no role in igniting a transformation
Great companies had no "launch event" to motivate people or signify the transformation
Great companies put little effort into motivating people - alignment was already there
Great companies were by and large not in great industries and some were in terrible industries
Making companies great is largely a matter of conscious choice
Three broad stages - disciplined people, disciplined thought, disciplined action
Great leaders set their companies up for success long after they're gone
Great companies have rigorous culture, not ruthless - this is a very important distinction
When in doubt, don't hire. Keep looking
When you know you need to make a people change, act
Put your best people on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems
Many companies and startups fail because they respond poorly to growth and success
The purpose of bureaucracy is to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline
Give people freedom, but freedom within a framework
Create a "stop doing" list
It takes discipline to say no to big opportunities. The fact that something is a "once in a lifetime" opportunity is irrelevant if it doesn't fit within the hedgehog framework
Never be satisfied. You can be delighted, but never satisfied.
Small changes over time have tremendous results
In order to be enduringly great, you must have core values, build them explicitly into your organization, and preserve them over time
It is much easier to become great than to remain great
Greatness doesn't depend on size
It is not harder to build something great than something good - what it does require is clarity and conscious decisions into what it takes to be great
What I got out of it
Really good read and case study in what it takes to transform
