Good to GREAT! — Book Summary. By Jim Collins
By: Dr. Hashim Alzain
Tags: Leadership Development, Skills Development, Greatness, Discipline, Leadership Skills

Good to GREAT! — Book Summary

By Jim Collins

Good is the Enemy of Great

Good is the enemy of great! Many people and companies settle for good because it’s easier & less risky. Many companies don’t even try to be great & settle for good enough. There’re not striving to be the best in their industry. This opens the door to competitors, who could sneak upon their arrogance & take them by surprise. Being the best means there is absolutely no room for mediocre thinking. It’s the same in our lives. Few people lead great lives because they’re happy with living a good life. Those of us who strive for greatness are not content with mediocre success.

Greatness doesn’t come as often as we’d like, so if I had to describe the key concept of the book in a single word, that word would be Discipline!

To go from a good company to a great company, one needs disciplined people, disciplined thinking, and disciplined action!

Disciplined People : means getting the right people & keeping them focused on excellence.

: means getting the right people & keeping them focused on excellence. Disciplined Thinking : means being honest about the facts & avoid getting distracted.

: means being honest about the facts & avoid getting distracted. Disciplined Action: means understanding what is important to achieve & what isn’t.

This classic business book holds the secrets to what it takes for a company or even an individual to go from good “or good enough” to great!

There are 7 concepts in this book that cultivates what it takes to go from good status to great:

Level 5 Leadership First Who, then What! Confront the Brutal Facts The Hedgehog Concept Culture of Discipline Technology Accelerators The Flywheel Effect & Doom

Level 5 Leadership

According to Jim Collins, there are 5 levels of leadership:

Level 1: Highly Capable Individual Level 2: Contributing Team Member Level 3: Competent Manager Level 4: Effective Leaders Level 5: Level 5 Leadership

If you think about a typical organizational chart, the lowest level of leadership is the Highly Capable Individual who is qualified to do the job (Surprised!). These are people who contribute using their skills, know-how and good work ethics.

Moving a step-up the hierarchy, the next level is a Contributing Team Member, who are able to use their skills & knowledge to help their team succeed. The next level is Competent Manager, who are capable of organizing their team to efficiently reach set objectives. Further, Level 4 is Effective Leaders, which is where the majority of leaders can be found. They are able to create the commitment from their team to pursue a clear & compelling vision.

Finally, we reach Level 5 Leadership, which is where the great leaders reside. They have the abilities of the other four levels plus a unique combination of Will & Humility, and it’s what makes them great!

The characteristics of Level 5 Leaders that set them apart from the rest of the crowed include:

Paradox : Their personal ambitious are streamlined with that of the organization, while being modest about what they personally contribute without bragging or brown-nosing.

: Their personal ambitious are streamlined with that of the organization, while being modest about what they personally contribute without bragging or brown-nosing. Driven : They are fanatically driven to the level of obsessed to produce exceptional results on a sustainable basis. This isn’t the result of a one-off heroic effort, so there is no one-hit wonder here.

: They are fanatically driven to the level of obsessed to produce exceptional results on a sustainable basis. This isn’t the result of a one-off heroic effort, so there is no one-hit wonder here. Build Successors : They build successors to take their own place one day & to be even more successful. To me, this has to be the rarest of traits in a true Level 5 leader, which is in stark contrast to level 4 leaders who will sometimes set-up their successors for failure to make themselves look good at other people’s expense (sounds familiar?).

: They build successors to take their own place one day & to be even more successful. To me, this has to be the rarest of traits in a true Level 5 leader, which is in stark contrast to level 4 leaders who will sometimes set-up their successors for failure to make themselves look good at other people’s expense (sounds familiar?). Share The Spotlight : They share the praise amongst the team when things go well.

: They share the praise amongst the team when things go well. Take The Blame : They are willing to take the blame when things go wrong. By sharing the praise and taking the blame they make their team extremely loyal & committed to the cause.

: They are willing to take the blame when things go wrong. By sharing the praise and taking the blame they make their team extremely loyal & committed to the cause. Approachable : They never have larger than life personalities or ego.

: They never have larger than life personalities or ego. Come from Within the Organization: They have started from the shop floor & made their way up through the ranks. This is because they would be able to be empathetic forwards their team’s needs, which reflects how their greatness comes from hard-work rather than heroic acts.

To encourage & find Level 5 Leaders in an organization, one can do the following:

Look for great results without an individual claiming credit. Hire from within & avoid the temptation to recruit external talent for key leadership positions. Invest in personal development, coaching, and mentoring people.

First Who, Then What

It’s not just the quality of leadership that is important to be great, rather, it’s the quality of all other people in the team that is equally as important! It’s counterintuitive to hire people before knowing what you’ll be doing, but that’s not what’s really implied here! It means that it’s vital to the success of an organization to seek talented people and get them on the buss & their collective thoughts & bright minds coupled with management’s guidance will lead to remarkable results!

Getting the right people takes precedence over strategy, vision, and almost everything. First, you get the right people, then get the wrong people out, then let the right people work-out where you’re going to go, what you’re going to do, and how you’re going to do it. Frist who, then what means shifting your mindset to realize that people are not your most valuable asset, rather, the right people are!

It’s impossible to overstress how important it is to have the right people in place because the right people simply won’t be satisfied with anything other than greatness!

Confront Brutal Facts

When the whole organization is able to put company performance ahead of their own ego, this enables the organization & its Level 5 leader to confront the brutal facts, without losing faith that the company will be successful in the long haul.

Great results can only be achieved when leaders make lots of good decisions & then execute well. To make good decisions one would need to confront the facts, even if those facts are brutal & uncomfortable because their mostly that way. To avoid distorting the facts & painting a deceiving rosy image, one wound need an atmosphere where bad news is welcomed because everybody would put their brains together in an attempt to solve the issues.

There are 4 practices to help you create an atmosphere of brutal honesty: