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Good to Great #6: Technology Accelerators

The team supporting Jim Collins’ research for his book Good to Great debated whether or not a chapter needed to be dedicated to the use of technology by great companies – whether technology is a principle that took companies from good to great.  The group didn’t feel they had sufficient evidence to argue that  technology in and of itself took an organization from good to great.  However, they did believe the use of technology had a significant impact on these organizations and so they decided the principle deserved representation.

What they found is that great companies leveraged technology to increase momentum; it is not the way they created their momentum.  These companies think differently about technology and technological change...

November 10, 2012 Books, Good to Great 3 comments
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Good to Great #5: A Culture of Discipline

good to greatJim Collins says in his book Good to Great that great organizations maintain a culture of discipline.   This culture consists of self-disciplined people who take disciplined action consistent with their specific hedgehog concept (see earlier post about a hedgehog concept).  Self-mastery frees you to focus on supporting others – you’re not busy screwing up and putting yourself back together.  These type of people do not need to be taught fundamental concepts like honesty, integrity, or hard work – they bring it to the table.  A culture of discipline a perfect example of having the right people on the bus.  A culture of discipline is at the heart of the previous Good to Great principle First Who, Then What where I wrote about the need to focus more on a person’s character than their re...

October 24, 2012 Books, Good to Great No comments
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Good to Great #4: The Hedgehog Concept

In the book Good to Great, Jim Collins discovers that great companies from his study all had a similar approach to their business, an approach that lead them to greatness. Collins calls this approach the Hedgehog concept. The idea is that hedgehogs are focused and diligent in their activities, unlike foxes that chase shiny objects and are easily distracted. While I believe there is a better comparison than a hedgehog and a fox, it’s what Collins used to describe the success of these businesses.

The hedgehog concept boils down to this: in order to be successful, organizations must focus their resources, energy, and time on one specific area, one activity or product, and do it extremely well. You can’t be scatter brained and try to have your hand in multiple “pies” or fields of work...

September 18, 2012 Books, Good to Great No comments
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Good to Great #3: Confront the Brutal Facts

What it Means to Confront the Brutal Facts in Good to Great

In Good to Great, Jim Collins explains that successful organizations first start with an honest discussion of the environment in which they exist, what are the brutal facts surrounding your organization? The only way this conversation can occur on an organizational level is to create a culture, a climate, where people feel safe communicating; that they have a tremendous opportunity to be heard. Being heard is different from being able to say what you think, it means the other person listens. Confronting the brutal facts contributes to an effective decision-making process – it’s the only way to allow honest communication. If there is no open communication, problems or obstacles to an organization are rarely fully understood.

Cr...

September 5, 2012 Books, Good to Great 3 comments
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Good to Great #2: First Who, Then What

Key Points from the Book Good to Great on the Principle of First Who, Then What

  • With any team, organization, or company Good to Great found that it is more important to get the right people on board than it is to decide what they are going to do. Once you get those people on board, then you can decide where to take the organization. Yes, I know this is counter intuitive.
  • The “right people” has more to do with character and innate capabilities than knowledge, background, skills, or experience. The right people have passion and want to work hard.
  • Collins compares this to a bus. Great companies from his study focused on getting the right people on the bus, in the right seats, and then decided where to go. Not the other way around.
    The Good to Great Bus.

    The Good to Great Bus...

August 28, 2012 Books, Good to Great 4 comments
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Good to Great #1: Level 5 Leadership and Changing the World

good to great

Looking out the window to blame/credit others.

What is Good to Great Level 5 Leadership?

Level 5 leadership, as Jim Collins explains it in his book Good to Great, refers to a person who is ambitious and driven first for the cause, for the job, for the mission, and not for himself/herself. This is a direct reflection of their fanatic drive towards results, yet this type of leader simultaneously maintains a humble purpose. It is a paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will. For this type of leader it has nothing to do with them; greed and self-gratification are not the motives. It has everything to do with the people and organization.

An analogy used to help describe this type of leader is the window versus the mirror (see images)...

August 20, 2012 Books, Good to Great No comments
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Good to Great Preface

Good to Great: A Preface

good to great preface

My preface to Good to Great

I often find myself bringing up Jim Collins’ book Good to Great when hanging out with good friends. My wife makes fun of me, promising to buy a handful of paperback copies, getting me to write my personal testimony of the book on the title page, and then I can give them away to friends because I’m such a believer. I think I’ll save us some money and time and I’ll just write about it.good to great

So before I dig into 7 of the main principles over the next few weeks, I want to set the stage.

Upfront, this book has changed my life. It’s changed the way I think and the way I work – I’m not kidding...

August 11, 2012 Books, Good to Great No comments
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Good to Great: Why Should I Care?

Good to Great PrefaceBefore 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...

August 10, 2012 Books, Good to Great 3 comments
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Confessions of an Economic Hitman

Author: John Perkins
Copyright: 2004
Copy: Picked it up randomly at Borders. 

Confessions of an Economic Hitman

Confessions of an Economic Hitman

Gist: John Perkins feels bad for the global economic sins of his past and decides to write Confessions of an Economic Hitman.  Perkins attempts to explain how he and a few other unnamed individuals went about the world promoting U.S. economic interests to the detriment of foreign countries.  Perkins ultimately is trying to repent for what he considers to be his past sins and in doing so is trying to explain to the world what is really going on.

My Thoughts: To be honest I can’t remember a ton of detail about this book since I read it so long ago...

March 20, 2011 Books No comments
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Fahrenheit 451

Author: Ray Bradbury
Copyright: 1953

Copy: One of my closest friends let me borrow a copy of Fahrenheit 451 back in the late 1990’s when we were in high school.  My friend always has cool books and cool ideas.  Ideas from this book have been extremely influential to me throughout my life.

451Gist: Guy Montag is a “fireman” in an age where firemen start fires, they don’t put them out.  During this time period books have become illegal and anyone found with books in their home will be visited by firemen who dump kerosene on the books and house and light them up.  Montag starts to question this notion that books are bad and decides to change things.  Another important piece of this book is Montag’s wife...

March 20, 2011 Books No comments
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