Chase Office Interiors just held its final quarterly meeting for 2011.  We held a company wide initiative to study the amazing book “Good to Great” written by Jim Collins.  It was very interesting to hear all my employees perspectives on the principles laid out, which are all based on research and data.  It was a perfect exercise to align the team together and to strengthen the company culture.  If you are looking to move your business to the next level this book is a must read (and implement)!   

Good is the Enemy of Great

Jim Collins states in his book Good to Great that “almost any organization can substantially improve its stature and performance, perhaps even become great, if it conscientiously applies the framework of ideas found and used by Good to Great companies.” The book touches on the following themes, which were found throughout companies that have gone from good to great:

This idea is similar to the “good is never enough”.  In this section of the book, Collins urges companies to focus equally on what to do, what not to do, and what to stop doing. He believes that most companies focus too much on what to do and ignore what not to do or what they should stop doing. What are you doing based on tradition or industry standards? What assumptions or processes have you rested on because they were “good enough?”

First Who… Then What

Collins says, “People are not your most important asset. The right people are.” He uses the analogy of a bus driver to while describing how to create a winning team within your organization. He recommends that you first get the right people on the bus, and then you get the wrong people off the bus, then the right people in the right seats, and then figure out where you want to drive that bus. Hire people with characteristics you cannot easily instill. Focus on who you are paying, not how. He also recommends analyzing someone’s character, work ethic, intelligence, and dedication to their values before deeply analyzing credentials and practical skills.

Confront the Brutal Facts

Collins found that companies that made the leap from good to great, had a consistent belief in their ability to succeed in the end. He believes that if companies do their due diligence and gather all of the facts, the right path will often unfold in front of them. He recommends the following four ways to build a culture where the truth is always heard:

Your company’s hedgehog concept is the “one big thing” for your organization to understand and stick to. What does or can your organization do, understand, or use as your core solution to competitive threats and changes in the industry? The concept itself is similar to your core ideology (which never changes), differing only in the sense that it can be slightly less permanent. Your hedgehog concept must be something you are deeply passionate about, best at in the world, and are able to make a profit by doing. Figure out what falls into all three of these categories, and obtain an understanding and strategy based on it.

Quotes from the book “Good to Great”

“The purpose of bureaucracy is to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline.”

“When [what you are deeply passionate about, what you can be best in the world at and what drives your economic engine] come together, not only does your work move toward greatness, but so does your life. For, in the end, it is impossible to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life. And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work. Perhaps, then, you might gain that rare tranquility that comes from knowing that you’ve had a hand in creating something of intrinsic excellence that makes a contribution. Indeed, you might even gain that deepest of all satisfactions: knowing that your short time here on this earth has been well spent, and that it mattered.”

“A company should limit its growth based on its ability to attract enough of the right people.”

“If we only have great companies, we will merely have a prosperous society, not a great one. Economic growth and power are the means, not the definition, of a great nation.”

“It occurs to me,Jim,that you spend too much time trying to be interesting. Why don’t you invest more time being interested?”

“Consider the idea that charisma can be as much a liability as an asset. Your strength of personality can sow the seeds of problems, when people filter the brutal facts from you.”

“By definition, it is not possible to everyone to be above the average.”

“For, in the end, it is impossible to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life. And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work.”