Good to Great - Jim Collins

 In 1996, Jim Collins with 21 research team set out to answer one simple question 'Can a good company become great and if so how? The research team synthesized the results to identify the drivers of good to great transformations and there by achieve cumulative stock returns 6.9 times the stock market in fifteen years. For me this was 45th of 2020

The chapters are divided into:

1. Good is the enemy of great - The scope of the project

The abbreviated story of this particular odyssey of curiosity is divided into phases viz:

Phase 1: The Search

Phase 2: Comparison companies

Phase 3: Inside the black box to find how good results can become great results 

Phase 4: Chaos to concepts

Findings inside the box were:

Leaders came from within 

Going from good to great is not linked to executive compensation

Strategy was not the key

They focused on what not to do and what to stop doing (Start, Stop, Continue)

Technology has nothing to do with change

Greatness is largely a matter of conscious choice. 

Transformation was a process of buildup followed by breakthrough, broken into three broad stages: disciplined people, disciplined thought and disciplined action. 

2. Level 5 Leadership - the good to great leaders are self-effacing, quiet, reserved, even shy - these leaders are a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will. The type of leader required is humble and ferocious. 

3. First who....then what - First get right people into the bus, in the right seat, and get wrong people off the bus, before deciding where to drive it. The right people are the most important asset. How companies set the foundation for their shift. 

4. Confront the brutal facts (Yet never lost faith) - Maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, AND at the same time have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. The duality that lead to greatness.

5. The hedgehog concept (Simplicity within the three circles) - Transcend the curse of competence. Core business if not best in the world must be replaced with a simple concept that reflects deep understanding of three intersecting circles. How to find the one big thing you company must focus on. "What can we be the best in the world at? (And equally important—what can we not be the best at?) What is the economic denominator that best drives our economic engine (profit or cash flow per “x”)? And what are our core people deeply passionate about? Answer those three questions honestly, facing the brutal facts without blinking, and you’ll begin to see your Hedgehog Concept emerge. "

6. A culture of discipline - When you have disciplined people, you don't need hierarchy. When you have disciplined thought, you don't need bureaucracy. When you have disciplined action, you don't need excessive controls. When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great performance. The magical alchemy of great performance. " Stop doing anything and everything that doesn't fit tightly within their Hedgehog Concept. " Don't just have a "To-Do List" have a 'Stop doing" list. 

7. Technology Accelerators - They never use technology as the primary means of igniting a transformation, yet paradoxically, they are pioneers in the application of carefully selected technologies. Technology is a trap unless used right. 

8. The fly wheel and the doom loop - How to build sustained momentum and avoid the 'new regime, new revolution' doom loop. The process resembled relentlessly pushing a giant heavy flywheel in one direction, turn upon turn, building momentum until a point of breakthrough and beyond. 

9. From Good to Great to Built to last (Concepts) - Sustained great results to Enduring great company. Applying good to great concepts help generate Sustained great results this with build to last concepts help us have enduring great companies. 

Help create enduring great organisation.  You can accomplish anything in life, provided that you do not mind who gets the credit. 

https://www.jimcollins.com/article_topics/articles/good-to-great.html

 The basic message is this: Build your own flywheel. You can do it. You can start to build momentum in something for which you've got responsibility. You can build a great department. You can build a great church community. You can take every one of these ideas and apply them to your own work or your own life.

BHAG - Big Hairy Audacious Goal.