Drea Knufken
11. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t
by Jim Collins
2001
Measuring sustained results over a period of 15 years, Collins identifies, from an original list of 1435, 11 well-established companies that made the leap from being “good” to being “great.”
Applicable to entrepreneurs as well as corporations, this carefully researched book singles out what Collins calls Level 5 Leadership—“a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will”—as the critical factor in those transformations. Such natural leaders “channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company,” which begins with getting the right people—those with discipline and resolve—in the right positions. Challenging the conventional notion of the outgoing, high-profile CEO, an effective leader moves with selfless determination, inspiring average performers to become great producers.
There’s been a lot of controversy about this book on Business Pundit. Is Good to Great too general, too philosophical? Is its research flawed? Have Fannie Mae and Circuit City proven Level 5 principles wrong?
The book still found its place on this list based on our selection criteria. When we compiled these books and scrutinized Good to Great, we realized that it’s not the only classic subject to pointed—and valid–critiques. If we removed Good to Great from the list based on BP’s prior post, we’d have to remove a whole bunch of other books, too.
