How to be good, how to be great, two must books written in the wrong order and the not so surprising facts of life; Good to Great and Built to Last, Jim Collins

   

HBS rating: Expands your knowledge

 

Who should read:

·         Business heads

·         Those setting up a company, or looking to turn around their company to success

·         Those interested in the success and failures of companies

·         Those wishing to create a positive change in their company

 

This is more than good to great.  This book is good to great to super great.  A slaughter house of sacred cows focused on why some companies made it while others did not.  Vision? Celeb CEO? Strategy? Or maybe reality is different..

Now here’s a challenge.  What could I possibly write which is worth while about a book that has “over one million copies sold” on its cover.  First of all it’s a lie, I bet you anything that more, much more than 1M were sold.  At best this statement is some tax evading thing.  I can’t believe anyone seriously interested in business can afford to skip G2G or its predecessor B2L. 

The thing which is so capturing about both of these books is that they are both popular (i.e readable) and are based on actual research.  Now hold back your horses.  No need to pull out of your bookshelves the many titles who are also a good read and are based on fact.  There are some books like these out there, but not plenty.  The majority of what crowds the bookstores under “Business and Management” is mostly anything but fact based. 

There are so many business books out there which basically revolve around an idea that could be summarized in one paragraph.  But paragraphs don’t sell so good on their own, so on the enthusiastic author puts down the effort to expand his one paragraph to 500 pages of nothing.  At least in “Eat that frog” the author had the decency to announce his book is thin, because it only focuses on the main ideas (no fluffy nonsense in between).

Mr. Collins on the other hand has spent some six years, per book.  Years that were spent researching companies, managers, CEO’s and articles about all three.  A quest to answer two key questions.  The first, which according to the author should be read second, is what makes some companies last for many, many, many years , while their competition does not.  The second, which according to the author should be read first, is what makes some companies make the leap from just good to extra ordinary great.

I will save me the trouble of walking you through how exactly Collins goes about figuring out both of these questions.  Read for yourself, that’s the whole purpose of this blog, to get people to read more. 

In short, it’s the opposite of what you think, and what you fear most.  Success, and long term success specifically, is based on hard work, commitment, having the right people around you who are immersed in the right culture.  Anything short of that and you will end up writing a book which could be summarized in one paragraph, at best.

I will tell you what my experience has been after reading these books.  Outstanding.  Its not as if once you read these books you are off to set the next Great or Lasting company.  But you do gain a lot of insight as to what the necessary components are.  You read these thick books, and what is left in your grey cells is what matters.  Simple questions such as “what am I passionate about, what am I best in and what is my economic engine?” are questions that if you can answer, your business is moving in the right direction.  If you can differentiate between time reading and clock building, than reading this pair is time well spent.  Its actions such as setting up vision and core values, and implementing them in your organization.  Get those figured out, and I will not guarantee that you will win the big money, but you will work in a much more positive and fun environment.

If I may offer one criticism, is that Collins really does believe his pitch.  This puts him a bit on the sidetrack of real research.  He is really pitching.  If there are other options, they haven’t been exhausted to the point his theory prevails.  Also, the sample size which drives his arguments is not particularly large.

But does any of this matter? Absolutely not.  And for one reason only.  Over 1M sold, read, and I would bet you anything, have change the way the readers of these books think.  One case in which quantity, is quality.