Jim Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t

Fans consider Jim Collins’ Good to Great a textbook for running a successful business.  Collins calls Good to Great a prequel to the popular Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, a book about what makes great companies great.  Indeed, Good to Great answers the central question so many readers were left with after Built to Last: “Can a good company become a great company, and if so, how?”

In Good to Great Collins offers readers clear, insightful analyses of the intense, five-year research project he undertook in pursuit of the response to this question.  From the first thought-provoking chapter “Good is the Enemy of Great,” to “From Good to Great to Built to Last,” the book’s concluding chapter, the Collins responds with an encouraging, “Yes, here’s how...”  His recommendations focus on leadership, corporate culture, the role of technology, strict self-evaluation, and the overall performance drive of a company.  The book concludes by making important connections with the lessons of Built to Last.    

Good to Great is a practical, useful, and, by many accounts, indispensable book of business principals for business improvement.  Whether you’re a boot-strap entrepreneur or a high-power executive, this is a book you will want to keep on your shelf.