Good to Great

by Peter Saint-Andre

2003-01-20

I see that Dizzy mentioned the fact that he's read the book Good to Great by Jim Collins, so I figure I'll chime in. I devoured the book in one sitting last Wednesday night and found it fairly provocative for a business book. One thing I liked about it was that its methodology was scientific and objective -- Collins and his team weren't looking for a certain answer, they were looking at the facts and trying to determine why some companies make the leap from good to great and others don't (there's a short introduction to these ideas here). The cover of the book touts the fact that over 600,000 copies have been sold. Funny thing is, very few of those copies will be read by people who have the discipline to apply its lessons, the courage to carefully choose the right people, the integrity to resist the lures of power and position, the honesty to break free of the reality distortion field that normally engulfs corporate leaders, the patience to make slow incremental changes rather than foment an organizational revolution. So those who pursue greatness will be in select company.


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