Book Review

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't
by Jim Collins
HarperCollins, 2001
ISBN: 0-06-662099-6
www.JimCollins.com

Reviewed by Terrance Malkinson

During a five-year study, Jim Collins and his research team examined 1,435 companies to define and analyze the practices that have helped 11 of those companies to make the transition from good to sustainable outstanding performance. Collins describes their research process in detail in this book.

Collins has spent more than a decade investigating great companies to find out how they grow and how they attain superior performance, as well as to determine how good companies can become great ones. He began his career as a faculty member of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, and later founded his management research laboratory to develop fundamental insights. Collins maintains an active teaching schedule with leaders in both the corporate and social sectors.

The first sentence of the first chapter reads, "Good is the Enemy of Great" and stimulates readers’ interest immediately. Collins argues that making the transition from good to great doesn't require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management or even a well-oiled business strategy. Rather, great companies have a corporate culture that recruits and promotes individuals who think and act with discipline.

Collins titled the chapters according to categories he and his team learned make companies great — disciplined people, thoughts and action. Embedded within these categories are discussions on leadership style, selecting people, confronting the current reality, understanding what you are best at, building a culture of discipline, and the best utilization of technology. He also discusses the pattern of building momentum until reaching a breakthrough point, as well as ways to ensure that great companies endure over time.

Almost any organization can improve its stature and performance substantially — perhaps even become great — if it applies the framework of ideas provided in this book conscientiously. Good to Great offers substantive insight and is well worth reading.

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Terrance Malkinson is a proposal manager/documentation specialist; an elected Senator of the University of Calgary; international correspondent for IEEE-USA Today's Engineer; and editor of the IEEE Management Society Newsletter. Opinions expressed are the author's.