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The cover of Good to Great

Good to Great

Jim Collins, 2001

Learn why a few ordinary companies made the leap to lasting greatness, from humble but fiercely driven leaders to facing brutal facts, simple focus and steady, disciplined effort.

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11 parts, about 23 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Studies eleven companies that far outperformed the market for fifteen years, each compared with a similar company that never made the leap
  • Finds the leaders combined personal humility with fierce will and began by getting the right people on the bus before choosing a direction
  • Introduces the hedgehog concept, the flywheel and the habit of facing brutal facts while keeping faith that you will win

Who it is for

  • Executives asking how a good company becomes great
  • Leaders deciding what their organization should stop doing
  • Readers sceptical of celebrity chief executives

What the summary covers

  1. Good Is the Enemy of Great2 min
  2. How We Searched3 min
  3. Level 5 Leadership4 min
  4. First Who, Then What2 min
  5. Confront the Brutal Facts, Yet Never Lose Faith2 min
  6. The Hedgehog Concept3 min
  7. A Culture of Discipline2 min
  8. Technology as an Accelerator1 min
  9. The Flywheel and the Doom Loop2 min
  10. From Good to Great to Built to Last1 min
  11. Why Greatness?1 min

About the author

  • Jim CollinsManagement researcher and author of Good to Great
    • Began his research and teaching career on the faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he won the Distinguished Teaching Award in 1992
    • Founded a management laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, in 1995
    • Held the Class of 1951 Chair for the Study of Leadership at West Point in 2012 and 2013
    • Holds a Stanford bachelor's degree in mathematical sciences and a Stanford MBA, plus honorary doctorates from the University of Colorado and Claremont Graduate University
    • Named by Forbes in 2017 as one of the 100 Greatest Living Business Minds
    • Spent 18 months at McKinsey in San Francisco after graduating
    • Good to Great is his study of companies that made the leap from good to great results and companies that did not
    • Worked as a product manager at Hewlett Packard for 18 months before his teaching career

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