On Wednesday, February 12th, nearly 90 people convened to discuss the classic book, Jim Collins’ Good to Great: why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't. Talent Counsel members Angela Dowd and Brian Donato facilitated.
For those who are not familiar with the book, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results (based on stock market returns) and sustained those results for at least fifteen years and identified 11 companies that met their rigorous criteria. They compared each of those companies to a specific peer company who was very similar to their comparison twin, but failed to make the leap to great. The study yielded seven key concepts, which were the focus of the book clud.
- Level 5 Leaders:Great companies had humble leaders yet with strong to drive to see the company succeed.
- First Who then What: Great companies and their leaders focused on getting the right people, and putting them in the right jobs, and letting them figure out what to do next.
- Confront the Brutal Facts: when faced with difficult decisions, great companies we able to understand and confront the brutal facts of their situation, but still remained convinced that they would prevail.
- The Hedgehog ConceptGreat companies aligned their business with what they could be good at, what they could make money doing, and what they could be passionate about.
- A Culture of Discipline:Great companies are nearly fanatical in adhering to their hedgehog concept, yet hire people that don’t require a lot of bureaucracy to do so.
- Technology Accelerators: Great companies think differently about the role of technology.
- The Flywheel and the Doom Loop:momentum for great companies was built bit by bit, step by step while those companies that launched radical change programs failed to make the leap to great.
Because of time, the group discussed only some of those concepts. But among the most interesting discussion points:
- It would be fascinating to have a Good to Great study that focused on just law firms.
- Cultivating strong will generally seemed to be harder that cultivating humbleness
- Many people on the call struggled more with confronting the brutal facts vs having faith that they would prevail. Building an environment to cultivate honest, open feedback can be a key for recognizing and confronting these brutal facts, what the book calls a red flag mechanism.
- Many loved the idea of a stop doing list to identify items they should no longer perform because they detract from where they are most valuable list, but all agreed it was very challenging to do so.
There were many, many more great insights from our group of book readers and our post group survey confirmed that everybody found value in both the book and the discussion experience. Luckily for you, it is the intention of ILTA to continue these book clubs, so stay tuned for the next book,
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