Good to Great by James C. Collins (2001, Hardcover, Illustrated)

Jim Collins’ book, “Good to Great” is a summarization of 6 months of research and analysis of numerous companies’ financial data’s. After the research was completed Collins’ team discovered 11 companies that have exhibited various accomplishments to earn themselves a title of a “Good to Great” company. These companies’ stock returns were, all at one time, at or below the markets’. They then experience a growth until they registered stock returns three times that of the market, and were able to sustain this success for at least 15 years. These 11 exceptional companies where then compared to other companies in the same industry, that had the same or similar opportunities and had access to comparable resources. The bulk of the text is a synopsis of the concepts that enabled the good to great companies to achieve and sustain their success.
The first concept is leadership. Collins uses levels to identify the better leaders. The highest level, 5, are leaders that display modesty, have the interests of the company ahead of their own. They are not flamboyant and focus on setting up successors for future success. They have a need to sustain results, will do whatever it takes to achieve greatness and look to themselves in failure.
The next concept is “first who then what.” This concept explains how the good to great companies went out and found “good” people and got rid of the “bad” people, before discovering their core competency. These companies always used their best people for the biggest opportunity, instead of the biggest problem. Collins makes the comparison of companies with genius leaders who are surrounded by incompetent workers and cannot get anything done or done properly
Another difference between the good to great companies and the others, are that the good to great companies were able to “confront brutal facts.” They understand their industries and realized they have problems and limitations that would hinder them from accomplishing various things; whether it is money, people or opportunity. Collins uses the example of A&P, who at one time were the second largest company in the country. A&P’s leaders did not face the fact that their industry was changing, because of greater demands for super stores, like Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart made the move, while A&P did not and the rest is history.
For the “hedge hog” concept, Collins uses an insightful analogy of a hedge hog and a fox. The fox is never focused, when he sees another animal, he attacks, without hesitation or study. The hedge hog is focused and never leaves his burrow unless necessary and with proper defences. The good to great companies, or the hedge hogs, are focused on their issue. They ask themselves three questions; 1. What can we be the best in the world at? 2. What are we deeply passionate about? 3. What drives our economic engine? These three questions, which Collins calls the three “circles,” were the basis of which the good to great companies decided on what they would focus on. To ensure that the company’s people would follow these three circles, the good to great companies all show a strong culture of discipline. This does not mean; a tyrant disciplinarian. Rather it means; after getting “good” people, they themselves are guided by the consistent system of the three circles and operate freely within them.

This book by Jim Collins was presented to me by the President and CEO of the company I work for after I conducted an interview with him as part of an assignment for a leadership class I'm taking at a local community college.
During the interview I asked him for a quote, and he referred to this book and said, "Make sure you have all the right people on the bus!" I really didn't know what this meant until I read the book. It gave me an entire new point of view on how to be a better manager and leader. It has a lot of numbers backing up his data, but once you get beyond those dry parts, it has a wealth of useful information on what it takes to make a Good business Great!
I would definetly recommend this book and have now read it twice!

Another classic by the writer of Built to Last... It turns out, though, that I think it would be a lot more useful to read this one before his first book. The author admits it might be a better flow and makes the connection between the books in the appendix.

Bottom line: There are solid case examples of business practices that I feel like I've been able to apply on the job.

The book was recommended by a motivation speaker and is definitely good reading. It provides comparisons of good to great companies and the things they did right and the things they did wrong. Gives one great insight into the behind the scenes actions and thoughts by high company executives.

I reviewed "Good to Great" for a class in educational administration. The author, Jim Collins, uses success of companies in business and industry to outline the qualities of excellent (or as he describes "Level 5") leaders. The practical applications would be of interest to a variety of leaders, including pastors, educators, business owners, CEO's, etc. I would highly recommend it.

This maybe a great book for a college class but I doubt it. It was very boring and really didn't have anything really new. Most people can tell that the survey was a bit biased and slanted to prove the theories in the book.

If you are in any type of leadership, in any situation, you must read this book. So much research was done on so many good companies and the findings are not what you might expect. The data is hard to ignore. This book is about real companies who made the transition from average to outstanding and how they made the transition.

I bought the book because it was recommended by a member of the school accreditation team that visited my school. I like the concept that you can get stuck in the rut of being good and never move on to being great. Some of the companies cited in this study are no longer have stellar performances so like all managment books, there is no panacea strategy for all situations over time.

I like the rapidity of the delivery. The book quality of also acceptable. Its almost new. Thanks a lot for contributing to build trust on ebay!

The content is interesting and applicable. Not only to business but to other aspects of our personal lives. I bought it for a university class. At first I wasn't too excited to read it but with each chapter I found it harder and harder to put down. It is now one of my favorite books.

If you aspire to be a CEO or CFO of a big corporation one day, this book is a must! My professor uses this as the course text book for our Fundamentals Of Mgmt course. Loved reading this book!

This seller was awesome! The post office made a mistake and returned to sender this item and the seller was really flexible in sending to me again at no additional cost! He was very flexible and willing to resend it. I would definitely recommend him. He didn't need to do what he did but he did it anyway. Thanks a ton!!!!

If you want to learn AND apply the steps and the habits necessary to be a game changer, in business, in your personal life, in church, anywhere you find yourself, you need to read this book. I found it extremely insightful into the DNA of great leaders that took their companies to the pinnacle of their fields.

Item was better than expected. Cover was in almost perfect condition and the "slight highlighting" was much less extensive than I expected.

The item is a classroom textbook and shipping was very crucial. I appreciate the prompt shipment and the condition of the item. Continue to render this kind of service and more power to you.

A good book but the great companies in this book have went under, the skills to become a great company are still valuable.

excellent book. must read.
some stories sounded like good jokes in 2008, but very useful to know that info and history.

It was clean, in good shape and arrived in a timely manner. I needed this book for a class at college in business management. The book itself is very good, and represents a comprehensive look at what takes a company to a great level.

I love Good to Great by James C. Collins any book that he write would be great and the price was great. E-Bay had a great gift allowing this author's book on the market it was just wish I had enough money to get all of his books.

I liked the book very much. Its worth spending money in it. I would recommend others to read this book. This book should be read by those who want to be great.

Everything was great. The book came on time and it before my class started and I am pleased. I recommend other people using this person to buy future books.

The book that I needed for my class arrived on time and in good condition. It was fast and not that expensive. Thanks.

Required for school. Book was is condition as described and was shipped promptly. There was no confusion and the transaction was seamless