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The non-fiction novel of my choosing to read and elaborate on was Good to Great, written by Jim Collins. The book was first published in 2001 after five years of extensive research which began in 1996. Good to Great is a business strategies book that examines the transformation of 11 companies of a 15-year period in which they skyrocketed their stock price way over the general market price. Over the next five years after one discussion Mr. Collins had with an acquaintance concerning the question, “What makes a company so great?” Mr.
Collins and his research team, “ read and systematically coded nearly 6,000 articles, generated more than 2,000 pages of interview transcripts, and created 384 million bytes of computer data,” to figure out what made these 11 companies so different from all others (Collins Ch. 1).
Jim Collins’s purpose of this book was to explain on the seven factors that these 11 good-to-great companies had in common. The first concept, Level 5 Leadership, is described as, “... a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will,” (Collins Ch. 2).
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Collins explains that these leaders came from within the company, are out for the greater success of the company and not their own, and embrace change. These Level 5 Leaders used a method of credit called ‘the Window and Mirror’ method, the book states. This is where these leaders would look out the window, presumably at their team, and credit the success of the company to them. The leaders would look into the mirror to blame themselves for the company’s failures. This concept is relative to Ch. 7: Management and Leadership.
Ch. 7 in our curriculum depicts successful management as progressive, great communicators, and team players.
Leaders in Ch. 7 also are people who help cultivate a vision, embrace change, and empower employees. Level 5 Leaders resemble what Ch. 7 calls Democratic Leadership whereas management and employees work as a team to direct the company and solve issues. The second concept is First Who and Then What. This concept is explained where the organization is pictured as a bus.
The Level 5 Leader (L5L) is the driver. The L5L will examine his/her whole team, kick the wrong people off the bus, and replace them with the right people in the right seat. Only then it is decided where to drive the bus. The book uses what it calls a “3 Principles for Rigorous People Decisions” model in which this case, Collins explained two of these principles in accordance with the bus analogy, “When in doubt, don’t hire- keep looking,” and “When you know you need a people change, act. Don’t let them sit in the wrong seat.” The concept largely relates to Ch. 11 in the midst of finding the best employees. Recruitment of the right people can be a tiring process but is extremely beneficial for the future success of the organization. The book stated that the hiring process depends more on the prospective employee’s character rather than their education achievements and field/work experience.
The third concept is Confront the Brutal Facts, Yet Never Lose Faith. This concept truly defines the word ‘teamwork’ whereas the basis of the concept is to create an environment where the organization accepts feedback from everyone inside, to be honest of the true well-being of the company, and to adapt to the harsh truths. The book explained how the good-to-great companies hit adversity head on, took risks, and adapted to new changes which would take the company in a new direction. Ch. 1: Taking Risks & Making Profits and Ch. 7: Management & Leadership relates to this concept. When leaders make changes due to low results, they take risks to make profit as it says in Ch. 1. Adaptation to new markets is a risk. Will it fail or fly? Ch.7 relates similar as good leaders should embrace the changes that are made to further the success of the company. The fourth concept is the Hedgehog Concept. Collins explains the Hedgehog Concept as an understanding of the core business of an organization.
With this concept, Collins explains that the good-to-great companies tailor their goals and strategies around this understanding. To get to that understanding, a three-part venn diagram is used. In the first circle, you have “What Are You Deeply Passionate About?” In the second circle, it’s “What Can You Be the Best in the World At?” Lastly, the third circle is “What Drives Your Economic Engine?” The middle ground of these three is your understanding, your defense from the world, your ‘hedgehog defense’. This whole concept is specifically tailored Ch. 7: Management & Leadership of the “Planning and Decision Making” section. The Hedgehog Concept is somewhat related to the ‘SWOT Analysis’ of Ch. 7, but the Hedgehog Concept focuses in on the main strengths as the company’s defense. With these, the company uses strategic planning to set goals and procedures in the direction that the concept leads them. The fifth concept is Culture of Discipline.
This concept depicts the ‘right people’ that the First Who and Then What concept introduces. Collins explains that the right people you place in the bus seats should be self-motivated, disciplined people. The right people would work hard for the greater good of the company and should turn away from opportunities that fall outside the Hedgehog Concept. Culture of Discipline goes in hand with Ch.10: Motivating Employees. The main idea is that the ‘right’ people are intrinsically motivated and disciplined. Intrinsic motivation, as said in Ch. 10 of our textbook, is the personal satisfaction you receive when you do well at your job and complete all objectives expected of you. Great leaders may distill this motivation in their employees, but the basis is to work towards the bigger picture as a team. The sixth concept is Technology Accelerators.
This concept is explained simply by Collins as the good-to-great companies didn’t focus on technology if it didn’t fit well with the Hedgehog Concept. If technology did fit, the good-to-great companies would “use technology as an accelerator of momentum and become a pioneer in the application of the technology,” (Collins Ch. 7) Ch. 1: The Dynamic Business Environment in our textbook covers the sector of the technological environment of business. It includes, databases, the internet, etc. The good-to-great companies use technology, but don’t rely on it as much as their comparison companies do. The seventh and final concept, the Flywheel and the Doom Loop, is explained by Collins that the buildup of a company is the consistent pushing of a flywheel in the same direction to build momentum. This continuous pushing will eventually lead to the big break the company is working towards. The Doom Loop is the circle of events that happen to the comparison companies. Comparison companies want to immediately jump to the big break or breakthrough they need.
Those companies keep changing their ideas and push the company in different directions, instead of focusing on one main mission. This also leads back to Ch. 10: Employee Motivation. Though it is the whole company working towards a goal together, everyone needs that consistent motivation to keep pushing on. To conclude, Jim Collins puts all these pieces together and explains how meaningful work accounts towards a meaningful life and that time well spent matters. The nonfiction novel hits on all aspects of structuring the right attitude and environment a company should have. The book can be tailored to many organizations and audiences. The purpose of this book was not only to inform, but to also inspire and motivate. This book is a high recommendation of mine, and I encourage all curious minds to read and educate themselves, so if the day comes to act as a leader, they have a great guideline to follow.
Good to Great Book Analysis. (2021, Dec 07). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/good-to-great-book-analysis-essay
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