Good to Great
A birthday gift from the universe.
The universe knows me well, much better than I know it.
My wife and I were in La Jolla near San Diego for a few days, enjoying long walks at the beach and sampling the local restaurants. On my birthday I decided to drop off a book at a little free library that I had noticed near the Airbnb where we were staying.
While checking out the books, the title Good to Great seemed to jump out at me. So I took it, even though it was a business book, which I don’t generally read. But I’m glad I did because it was my birthday gift from the universe!
The wisdom of timeless principles I was pleasantly surprised when I cracked open the book and saw that the author, Jim Collins, tried to distill the timeless principles that allow companies to go from good to great. Anyone who’s looking for timeless principles is looking for wisdom, and I love wisdom.
It is ultimately about one thing: the timeless principles of good to great. — Jim Collins.
My interest doesn’t lie in knowing how to run a business. I’ve spent time in the corporate world, but my true interest is in discovering the principles that lead to being successful on an individual level.
It appears that these are completely different animals with different metrics. After all, these companies were selected based on how well they performed in the stock market. I have yet to meet an individual who is listed on the NASDAQ and although financial success can certainly be part of our own success metric, it should be part of a bigger picture. If money is all you’re after in this life I think you’re selling yourself short.
But, while making my way through the book, I began to see the beauty of the wisdom implied in these timeless principles. They’re universal. They never go out of style, and, as it turns out, they can be applied to individuals as well as organizations.
The other thing about wisdom is that you can share it without having any less of it as a result. So, in the spirit of sharing, I offer for your enjoyment the principles I was gifted for my birthday.
Good to Great principles.
- Leadership style
Self-effacing, quiet, reserved, even shy — these leaders are a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will. They are more like Lincoln or Socrates than Patton or Caesar. — Jim Collins
These leaders were humble, not focused on promoting their own ego. They did have a large ambition, it’s just that their ambition was channeled into a greater cause: the success of the company. They were diligent, consistent and self-disciplined, giving credit to others for success, but looking to themselves when results were disappointing. My take-away: To be great I need to get above my ego and channel my ambition into serving a cause bigger than myself.
2. First who, then what
The good-to-great leaders began the transformation by first getting the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) and then figured out where to drive it. — Jim Collins
While other companies would start with a vision, good-to-great leaders started by creating a team of exceptional people. The vision came after creating the team. The right people were more important to success than the skills these people did or didn’t have. And what did they look for in these people? Character was more important than knowledge or skills. These people were driven by a love for what they do, and a love for excellence. Take-away: Greatness requires self-motivation and the development of character. The driving motivation is love, for whomever you choose to serve, or whatever you choose to do.
3. Have absolute faith while facing the brutal facts
The Stockdale Paradox: You must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, AND have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. — Jim Collins
This paradox comes from the experience of Admiral Stockdale who was a POW during the Vietnam war. Survival in that POW camp was contingent on facing reality. Blind optimism, or expectations that the war would be over soon were a detriment to survival. But faith in prevailing without a fixed timeline did work. This same combination of faith and facing reality was key in great companies, while missing in the mediocre ones. My take-away: Faith is a heart quality. It’s something you can’t fake, you either have it or you don’t. Resilience is the ability to keep your heart open in the face of obstacles, setbacks, and sometimes extreme circumstances. I consider this ability to be more powerful and effective for achieving success than almost any other quality. It’s the combination of love and truth. Keeping the heart open, not by denying the truth, but by accepting what is.
4. A culture of discipline
When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great performance. — Jim Collins
The difference between the great companies and the mediocre ones was not a difference in discipline per se, but in how that discipline came about. In great companies there was a culture of discipline. It was embedded in the DNA. It was what people chose to do, sometimes bordering on the fanatical. In the comparison companies, a strong leader would impose discipline through sheer force. Not the same thing at all. Take-away: Discipline is a prerequisite for success and greatness, period. But when discipline is part of your DNA, you practice it because you’re doing something you love. You’re doing something that’s meaningful to you. You’re disciplining yourself because you choose to, because you recognize it’s needed to go where you want to go. It is discipline of the heart, which is very different from forcing yourself to do something.
5. The Hedgehog Concept
A Hedgehog Concept is not a goal to be the best, a strategy to be the best, an intention to be the best, a plan to be the best. It is an understanding of what you can be the best at. The distinction is absolutely crucial. — Jim Collins
The Hedgehog Concept is subtle. It is the intersection of what the people in the company are passionate about, what they can be the best at, and be profitable at. In a company this can then crystallize in a mission statement. It is something that is discovered, not simply decided by management. On average it took great companies 4 years to discover it. Once it’s in place, it provides the single focus for the company. My take: Greatness requires a single focus. On a personal level it’s the answer to the most important question I ever asked myself: what is my life about? What am I willing to pour my heart into for the rest of my life? What is at the absolute top of my priority list? It’s about finding The One Thing, and then dedicating yourself to that. And it really is something I discovered rather than decided.
Yes, the universe knows me well. It gave me a gift, helping me to get to know it better. Where do universal principles come from after all? From the universe!
It also gave me a message. I may be good today, but it’s telling me to go for great. It encourages me to keep moving forward. It gave me a book with the principles to follow if I choose to go for greatness.
Now how cool is that?