Good to Great
Good to Great
Reviewed by: G.A. “Andy” Marken, president, Marken Communications Inc., andy@markencom.com
Once you get past the pages of academic research this is a good selection if you want to know how to prepare yourself for the better job with the better company. A former faculty member at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, Collins helps you by outlining the kind of boss you should look for -- humble, persistent, disciplined, results-oriented and entrepreneurial. He also outlines the type of people they hire and promote --disciplined in thought and action who focus on success.
It will be interesting to see if Collins guidelines, like Tom Peters, stand the tests of time. Or like Peters he will have moved on to new findings, new results and will quickly explain that the management obviously lost sight of their long-term goals and yielded to the temptations of short-term expectations.
We find that reading management books helps us focus our thinking and activities to meld with those of senior management so we can do a better job in supporting them and helping them reach their objectives. That's why we felt the real solutions for sustaining growth and success were especially helpful since they dealt not with theory or academic philosophy but rather extended studies of real companies.
The funny thing is Collins discovers how easy it is for a company and senior management to be mediocre and sustain themselves. But by adding energy and momentum to the mix the company and managers can produce greater meaning from their work, which is directly reflected in the rewards that he or she receives.
Unlike many business gurus, Collins doesn’t simply set down guidelines for companies and their management teams; he actually studies the firms in-depth. Then he correlates the results of all the firms in all of the industries to develop a series of common denominators and patterns. Once that is done he looks deep inside to explain how the firms became great companies.
We don’t agree that stock price is really a measure of a great company given the state of the stock market and how quickly prices swing for no apparent reason. However we have to agree that at this point we don’t have another measurement since it is the one constant for every firm that is outside their long-term control.
Don’t suffer from the common concept that to help your company and management achieve greatness you need to focus on developing a high profile in the media and marketplace for your CEO. Instead, you need to know how to help him or her develop a full, rich corporate culture that gives employees something steady to hold onto in the turbulence of change.
When you’ve finished the book you’ll walk away with a clearer understanding of what makes a Level 5 leader and with that knowledge you’ll know if this is the type of boss you can cast your lot with for stability in your career. You’ll also have a better understanding of what he calls The Hedgehog Concept (the book is awash with newly coined jargon) which is best explained as keeping things simple so the company can make the transition from good to great.
Collins explains how a culture of discipline within the good corporation can be balanced with a spirit of entrepreneurship to give you a feeling of ownership in the company’s future and growth. As we all know the world is awash with technology and too often it is used as a crutch to support the firm. Collins points out that good to great firms know how to selectively choose and leverage technology -- even if it isn’t the latest fad technology.
The finding we found most interesting in light of current business events with the merger and acquisition activities and CEO replacements that have been signed is his Flywheel an Doom Loop finding. Over the past few years we’ve seen numerous CEOs come in with what they firmly believe is a vote of confidence from the board of directors to effect change -- sometimes radical, almost violent change. Mike Armstrong tried it with AT&T and his master plan failed. Carly Fiorina brought her strong will to HP, disrupted the culture of more than 30 years and attempted two mergers that were designed to help the company move into to the future.
The problem in both instances was that the two leaders spent more time in dictating and forcing change than in realigning and refocusing their managerial teams. In a word, the boss and the team weren’t on the same page of the change program. At the same time, their massive restructuring activities failed because most of the time was devoted to developing the new structure. Little or no time was spent discussing the need for the new structure or selling the vision of what the future was going to look like and how it was going to benefit members of the team.
Going from good to great from our perspective requires a tremendous amount of communications both internally and externally. So who should be the key advisor to the Level 5 Leader? Public relations! But it wouldn’t hurt if you read the book to find out what the boss was looking for in you and what is expected from you.
Good to Great - To learn more about this author, visit Andy Marken's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t – James C. Collins, Oct. 2001, 320 pages, Harper Collins Publishing, 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019
Reviewed by: G.A. “Andy” Marken, president, Marken Communications Inc., andy@markencom.com
Once you get past the pages of academic research this is a good selection if you want to know how to prepare yourself for the better job with the better company. A former faculty member at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, Collins helps you by outlining the kind of boss you should look for -- humble, persistent, disciplined, results-oriented and entrepreneurial. He also outlines the type of people they hire and promote --disciplined in thought and action who focus on success.
It will be interesting to see if Collins guidelines, like Tom Peters, stand the tests of time. Or like Peters he will have moved on to new findings, new results and will quickly explain that the management obviously lost sight of their long-term goals and yielded to the temptations of short-term expectations.
We find that reading management books helps us focus our thinking and activities to meld with those of senior management so we can do a better job in supporting them and helping them reach their objectives. That's why we felt the real solutions for sustaining growth and success were especially helpful since they dealt not with theory or academic philosophy but rather extended studies of real companies.
The funny thing is Collins discovers how easy it is for a company and senior management to be mediocre and sustain themselves. But by adding energy and momentum to the mix the company and managers can produce greater meaning from their work, which is directly reflected in the rewards that he or she receives.
Unlike many business gurus, Collins doesn’t simply set down guidelines for companies and their management teams; he actually studies the firms in-depth. Then he correlates the results of all the firms in all of the industries to develop a series of common denominators and patterns. Once that is done he looks deep inside to explain how the firms became great companies.
We don’t agree that stock price is really a measure of a great company given the state of the stock market and how quickly prices swing for no apparent reason. However we have to agree that at this point we don’t have another measurement since it is the one constant for every firm that is outside their long-term control.
Don’t suffer from the common concept that to help your company and management achieve greatness you need to focus on developing a high profile in the media and marketplace for your CEO. Instead, you need to know how to help him or her develop a full, rich corporate culture that gives employees something steady to hold onto in the turbulence of change.
When you’ve finished the book you’ll walk away with a clearer understanding of what makes a Level 5 leader and with that knowledge you’ll know if this is the type of boss you can cast your lot with for stability in your career. You’ll also have a better understanding of what he calls The Hedgehog Concept (the book is awash with newly coined jargon) which is best explained as keeping things simple so the company can make the transition from good to great.
Collins explains how a culture of discipline within the good corporation can be balanced with a spirit of entrepreneurship to give you a feeling of ownership in the company’s future and growth. As we all know the world is awash with technology and too often it is used as a crutch to support the firm. Collins points out that good to great firms know how to selectively choose and leverage technology -- even if it isn’t the latest fad technology.
The finding we found most interesting in light of current business events with the merger and acquisition activities and CEO replacements that have been signed is his Flywheel an Doom Loop finding. Over the past few years we’ve seen numerous CEOs come in with what they firmly believe is a vote of confidence from the board of directors to effect change -- sometimes radical, almost violent change. Mike Armstrong tried it with AT&T and his master plan failed. Carly Fiorina brought her strong will to HP, disrupted the culture of more than 30 years and attempted two mergers that were designed to help the company move into to the future.
The problem in both instances was that the two leaders spent more time in dictating and forcing change than in realigning and refocusing their managerial teams. In a word, the boss and the team weren’t on the same page of the change program. At the same time, their massive restructuring activities failed because most of the time was devoted to developing the new structure. Little or no time was spent discussing the need for the new structure or selling the vision of what the future was going to look like and how it was going to benefit members of the team.
Going from good to great from our perspective requires a tremendous amount of communications both internally and externally. So who should be the key advisor to the Level 5 Leader? Public relations! But it wouldn’t hurt if you read the book to find out what the boss was looking for in you and what is expected from you.
Good to Great - To learn more about this author, visit Andy Marken's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
|||
David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
|||
Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Andy's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
|
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Partner Questionnaire TeleSeminar Etiquette Optimize For Ask Checklist Crazy Busy Strategic Plan |
|
 | ||
 |
The Top 10 ProBlogger Posts
Best Posts for Bloggers | |
 |
Top 50 Raising Capital Blogs
Top Blogs To Watch In 2008 | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
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 and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||