Good to Great: Why Should I Care?

Before digging into some of the principles of Good to Great I want to write a bit about why I care, why I think you should care, about learning significant principles. In a broader sense, why I think I should keep writing this blog and you should keep reading. At this point, I offer three reasons why: There’s too much to experience in this lifetime, it helps in the struggle between the fear of loss versus faith in principle, and it makes life easier.

Too Much to Experience

One, like my father said in a previous posts, you cannot experience everything this world has to offer in your lifetime; as a result, you cannot learn everything there is to learn through experience through experience alone. There’s too much to read. You can’t study every field the colleges have to offer. You can’t hike every mountain or visit every country. Instead, understanding the core principles that each experience has to offer in this life provide a foundation to understand the bigger picture, which helps deal with new or difficult situations. It is a way to avoid the intense sense of urgency to experience everything in life; that feeling that I’m missing out on valuable knowledge or experience.

Fear of Loss vs. Faith in Principle

Two, the best choices in life are most often based on sound principles. In order to make those choices, one has to first be familiar with the correct principles or the decision will be based on something like opinion, assumption, bias, or fear. Far too often people make decisions based on a fear of loss versus a faith in principle. I’m afraid I am going to lose X so I’m going to do Y. However, diligently seeking sound principles increases the likelihood of making great choices in highly consequential situations and helps avoid the cumbersome or significant consequences of poor choices. Nothing is more inspiring than to see a leader guide his/her people through difficult or contentious times by holding fast to sound principles instead of being deceived and lead by the power of fear and doubt. Sound principles cast out doubt and fear when chaotic times present themselves and provide the confidence needed to make hard choices.

Principles Like Those in Good to Great Ease the Way

Three, In the end of Good to Great, Jim Collins talks about a question he was posed. The question is, “what if I don’t want to be ‘great?’ What if I just want to be a small and successful business?” Collins’ response has resonated deeply with me. First, you don’t have to be a huge business to be great. You can be small and be great. But the other point is that the pursuit for “greatness,” as his book describes it, is a pursuit of a kind of perfection. By perfection I mean, not making many mistakes and achieving success. Taking the lessons Collins presents in his book and applying them to ones’ business reduces the amount of mistakes, pain, and failure one would make. Shifting gears and making the connection to any other aspect of life, searching for the principles of “greatness” help us stop doing the wrong things and help us start doing the right things. It helps us stop making mistakes; having to pull ourselves up again. It helps us stop putting ourselves in debt. It helps us stop being stupid. Bottom line, it makes life easier. The pursuit of greatness by applying sound principles is a drive to make life easier. Now, who doesn’t want life to be easier?!

Obviously this is not an exhaustive list of reasons why it’s important to seek out and understand proven principles. However, I’d offer that these are highly significant reasons why one should care. What ideas has this post sparked for you? What reasons would you add to the list? For me, it has motivated me to at least keep reading and writing. I hope you write back so I can learn from what you have to offer as well.