Review: Good to Great
Running head: Good to Great Book Review |
In partial fulfillment for the requirement for
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND COUNSELING
BY
TIFFANY TURNER-BANKS
11/12/2011
Jim Collins and his research team have done a wonderful job identifying what it takes for a company to go from good to great. I found this book extremely interesting and would like to share several of my thoughts. The study looks at companies that appeared on the Fortune 500 from the years of 1965 to 1995, looking for those that, for 15 years, either tracked or underperformed the stock market, followed by a transition, and subsequently returning at least 3 times the stock market for at least 15 years. The eleven companies included in the study were Abbot Laboratories, Circuit City, Fannie Mae, Gillette, Kimberly-Clark, Kroger, Nucor, Philip Morris, Pitney Bowes, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo. I would also like to point out that Circuit City liquidated its final American retail stores in 2009 following a bankruptcy filing and subsequent failure to find a buyer and Fannie Mae was at the center of The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, commonly referred to as a bailout of the U.S. financial system. Jim Collins begins his book with a quote from Beryl Markham “That’s what makes death so hard – unsatisfied curiosity”. This is a very pertinent quote which indicates the curiosity that planted a seed of question in Jim’s mind which became the basis of this book – to understand the variables which converted Good companies to Great Companies. Good to Great reveals core principles that most companies should follow to be successful. It follows the premise on why just be good at what you do when you can be great at what you do. The author made a statement that good is the enemy to great and that terms means that people in general settle for good enough instead of striving for greatness. Collins’ and his team found that the type of leadership did make a difference and
In partial fulfillment for the requirement for
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND COUNSELING
BY
TIFFANY TURNER-BANKS
11/12/2011
Jim Collins and his research team have done a wonderful job identifying what it takes for a company to go from good to great. I found this book extremely interesting and would like to share several of my thoughts. The study looks at companies that appeared on the Fortune 500 from the years of 1965 to 1995, looking for those that, for 15 years, either tracked or underperformed the stock market, followed by a transition, and subsequently returning at least 3 times the stock market for at least 15 years. The eleven companies included in the study were Abbot Laboratories, Circuit City, Fannie Mae, Gillette, Kimberly-Clark, Kroger, Nucor, Philip Morris, Pitney Bowes, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo. I would also like to point out that Circuit City liquidated its final American retail stores in 2009 following a bankruptcy filing and subsequent failure to find a buyer and Fannie Mae was at the center of The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, commonly referred to as a bailout of the U.S. financial system. Jim Collins begins his book with a quote from Beryl Markham “That’s what makes death so hard – unsatisfied curiosity”. This is a very pertinent quote which indicates the curiosity that planted a seed of question in Jim’s mind which became the basis of this book – to understand the variables which converted Good companies to Great Companies. Good to Great reveals core principles that most companies should follow to be successful. It follows the premise on why just be good at what you do when you can be great at what you do. The author made a statement that good is the enemy to great and that terms means that people in general settle for good enough instead of striving for greatness. Collins’ and his team found that the type of leadership did make a difference and
References: Collins, James C: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don 't, 1st ed. (2001)