Tweet

From Good To Great To Gone

Written by: Tom Lemanski

Article Overview: The first six weeks of 2009 were not kind to Jim Collins' eleven Good To Great companies. With some lyrical assistance from "The Chairman of the Board", I explore five formerly great companies and how one has roller coaster-ed from Good To Great To Gone.

From Good To Great To Gone

The first six weeks of 2009 were not kind to the reputation of Jim Collins' business bible, Good To Great. Performance issues with at least five of the eleven chronicled Good to Great companies have hit the headlines. G2G financial service companies Wells Fargo and Fannie Mae are seeing their darkest days.

On January 9, 2009 Walgreens recently announced the layoff of 1,000 salaried workers.

The struggles of Nucor, the G2G steel company, were featured on the February 15 60 Minutes episode. But that was not the biggest casualty from The Great Eleven.

On January 16, Circuit City Stores, Inc. announced that it will seek Bankruptcy Court approval to begin the process to liquidate the assets of the company.

So we're down to 10 Good To Great companies. while others are posting less than great results. No one ever claimed that sustained greatness would be easy. But the sudden liquidation of a text-book great company is shocking nonetheless.

If not Greatness, then what?

Do we put the red bible for business greatness permanently back on the shelf and search for a new bible? As I have pointed out in previous briefings on pursuing greatness, the Good To Great model was a fit for eleven publicly traded companies, but it is NOT easily embraced by many wannabes.

The book's opening concept: Good is the Enemy of Great is so inspiring. its easy for competitive leaders to get caught up in the notion. At least until they discover they lack the leadership for a committed, ongoing pursuit.

Good To Great's research delivers potentially valuable insight. Their Great Eleven had a great run, by any standards.

Perhaps its is unfair to raise any business book to bible status. That said, allow me to suggest some different perspectives on pursuing greatness and/or excellence. Not new bibles. Just more balanced insight.

The two books on the right examine some eye opening pitfalls to the aforementioned inspired pursuits of greatness. For those who do strategic thinking, consider

* The Paradox of Excellence: How Great Performance Can Kill Your Business by David Mosby and Michael Weissman: A look at how continuing to satisfy raised customer expectations can do more harm than good.
* The Myth of Excellence: Why Great Companies Never Try to Be the Best at Everything, by Fred Crawford (Author), Ryan Mathews:nIt takes Tom Peter's concepts of excellence and refines them with some practical advise on how to avoid mis-allocating scarce resources.

I am occasionally sought as a speaker by aspiring Good To Great organizations. In most every instance, I find that the well intentioned company is not ready to commit to all of the book's principles. They're hoping to be inspired to greatness by a keynote presentation. If only it could be that easy! I can typically flush out that their noble intentions are merely flavor-of-the-month initiatives. In the words of Frank Sinatra, they are destined to be "riding high in April, shot down in May." The first clue can be the obvious presence of high profile CEO who is unlikely to reach Level 5 status. In these cases, I recommend that we avoid wasting everyone's time. "As funny as it may seem, some people get their kicks stompin' on a dream."

G2G author Jim Collins pointed out how most don't pursue greatness because its "all too easy to settle for good". Now sadly, Circuit City would simply settle for solvency.

Related Articles
  Get Clear On What Your Business Needs Most
  How to create a great website
  Create a Great Website and Profit Online from Home
  Are You a Great Manager?
  Closing with Passion

Article Tags: good to great



Related Forum Posts
Re: Moderators on vacation - Great to have you back GT! Good luck with your projects!
Re: How do you monitor what people say about you in the web? - Great question! I use Google news alerts for my name and website name. I also monitor in Twitter whenever my name or website is mentioned. I just got back from SES Toronto and multiple people said to check out SocialMention.com - it never seems to work for me but you can try it out. Good luck!
Re: How can I start home-based business? - Great suggestions everyone. Firstly you must document what skills, experience and interests you have. Then you can find opportunities for applying them to a business, You can work from home, or virtually anywhere these days with a internet connection. I would recommend taking everyone up on their offers of information, really studying it and then trying something. Good luck J
Re: Ridiculous Ideas That Made Millions - [quote="terrycan":3q02xsln]Dear GT Bulmer, Great post and a super article. Good advice on investing especially "Stick to your strengths" Invest in a business you understand. For example a lumber jack would see a good tree cutting tool. He wouldn't understand the next fashion trend in women's high heel shoes. For our inventors invent in a business you understand. If you see a need. You may see an invention.[/quote:3q02xsln] Great advice here Terrycan. I agree that it is more likely that you will see a need in a business you know and understand than in something that is totally foreign to you. It is when you are working in certain areas or certain types of businesses that your imagination is going to find inventions for ways to do things better. MichelleJ
Favourite Business Books - The November PROFIT magazine looks at the favourite business books of Canada's most successful entrepreneurs. The top 4 are: 1) Good to Great by Jim Collins 2) The E-Myth by Michael Gerber 3) Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne 4) How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Four Reasons Why Entrepreneurs Should Blog

Fear Factors in Small Business: Sales & Marketing

Do You Pretend To Listen To People?

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.