Ok this book is jaw dropping. It is that good. I recommend this book to those who is in a management position, wanna-be entrepreneur or business owners. It is written such a way that it is concise and clear. Don’t get me wrong. This book does not tell you step to step how to turn a company from good to great. It just tells us the characteristics of a company that turns great with solid findings. No funny theories, just the facts.
Jim Collins and his research team searched for companies that:
- performed at or below the general stock market for at least fifteen years;
- then at a transition point began to pull away from the competition, and
- sustained returns of at least 3 times the general market for the next fifteen years
To summarize, there are few traits that a company that turns great has:
Level 5 leadership, hedgehog concept, getting the right people on the bus, culture of discipline and so on. The trait that I think is the most crucial for any company will be getting the right people on the bus. As discussed in the book, before you start leading the company toward any change, by having the right people at the first place and removing those who are not, you don’t have to really motivate them through the change. Simply said, right people do not need to be managed. While wrong people requires layers of bureaucracy which in turn greatly hurt the flexibility of any big corporations, they will also drag the right people behind, further lowering the morale of the right people and in the worst scenario, driving them off as smart people tolerate no BS. Having the right people saves you time and resources, beside that you also do not waste the time of a person who doesn’t fit into your company, they could be better off looking for another job asap that suits them more.
After reading this, now I should grab a copy of Built to last..
