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Deal Domains - Good To Great CD
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List Price: $24.89
Our Price: $21.89
Your Save: $ 3.00 ( 12% )
Availability:
Manufacturer: Audiobooks
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 9781856868631
Format: Audiobook
ISBN: 185686863X
Label: Audiobooks
Manufacturer: Audiobooks
Number Of Items: 1
Publication Date: 2005-10-25
Publisher: Audiobooks
Release Date: 2005-10-25
Studio: Audiobooks
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Good service and good product
Comment: Book came on time and very clean. Few writings here and there which was already mentioned. Book is in excellent condition. Thank you.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A great book, but try not to fight the examples.
Comment: Jim Collins and his team did a great job of breaking down both business and leaders into factors that helped make them successful. Thought Collins markets his book as a business book I believe, like those of Covey, the theories in this book will serve you well in both business and personal aspects of your life. This book was actually used as a text in my MBA studies at Fairleigh Dickinson University's Silberman College of Buisness, a nationally top ranking entrepreneurship school. As such I've engaged in many hours of discussion with both students and seasoned professionals about the merits and short-comings of this book.
First, I'll start with where it comes up short since everyone loves that and I'd prefer to finish on a positive note anyway. Some people feel that Collins's findings just aren't possible to implement in real world work environments. Others argue that most of this material just doesn't apply to anyone that's not a senior executive in the organization. Last, and my favorite, is the rational that success, especially in these companies, is random and luck based. I contend they're all wrong, and I'll tell you why. The only criticism of this book I do accept is Collins's criteria for a successful company is purely financial, which I don't agree with, but he does address hi s reasoning right at the beginning. I understand why he had to do it, but I still don't agree with it.
To those who argue Collins' methods are not implementable in the real world I say quit arguing the metaphors and learn from the principles. Try not to get stuck duplicating the examples Collins uses in the book, they are just examples. Read between the lines and just pull out what he's trying to say... "first who...", "The Hedgehog Concept", "The Flywheel", and, if you have the audiobook, pay close attention to the student question in the epilogue. These are simple concepts that can have a great impact on you, your organization, and your career. I contend that each and every one of the theories in this book can be implemented in business at all levels, not just at the top, as well as everyday life. I believe you can be a level five leader in life, not just in business. The book "Leadership and Self-Deception" by The Arbinger Institute is a great book to emphasize this point.
And finally, for anyone that feels success is random and/or we can't break it down into a set of rules or principles I'd recommend reading Taleb's "The Black Swan", (a great book btw) which might make you feel better about yourself. I'd also recommend "Outliers" by Gladwell, another book which does in-depth research into success. Look specifically at the 10,000 hour rule and see how well it fits with Collins's Flywheel concept.
Now for the pros of this book. There are too many to list. Collins's principles of level five leadership, the fly wheel, the doom loop, build-up to break-through, etc., etc., and so on, and so on are all very good points. Again, these principles don't just apply to business, they also apply to life. I'm currently a technology marketing professional, but not a sr. executive. Build-up to break-through and the flywheel concept are just two great ways I've made a difference in my organization from the bottom up. I'm also an entrepreneur and own my own business and one of the best things I found about Good To Great was The Hedgehog concept and how it applies to Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule.
Overall a good read with great theories.
As always the metaphors and examples can be argued until you're blue in the face, but if you attempt to do that then you've already missed the point.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Interesting look at leadership. CD media great for long drives.
Comment: I read the book a while back and was surprised to find parallels to what my dad and uncle (partners in a small business) experienced in the late 70s/early 80s. I knew they did something special, but it was especially gratifying to see it documented and quasi-proven with multiple industry observations on larger scales. I purchased the CD media so that my dad could enjoy it as well.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Collins Review
Comment: Extremely well written. The valuable information from Collin's Good to Great is useful not only in a business but also in one's personal life. A must buy!
Customer Rating:
Summary: please burn every copy you can find
Comment: Please google critical review of G2G before reading. There are major problems with the "research" presented. Check out Nassim Nicholas Taleb's "The Black Swan" for some insight into what really makes a company great. The answer; no one really knows. It's all random.
Business books are nothing but fads and fashion. Read, borrow a couple of ideas, then throw them in the trash when you are done. G2G became required reading where I work and in my view has nearly destroyed the company. It was, and still is, considered the Gospel of business. Prior to G2G we grew from zero to $120M in 10 years. In the 7 years after G2G we are down to $60M. (Still profitable, thankfully, but boring.) Life was much more fun before we got hedge-hogged.
Avoid at all costs, unless you are a fox and read it to learn what the hedge hogs are thinking.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Built To Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning. But what about companies that are not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? Are there those that convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? If so, what are the distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great? Over five years, Jim Collins and his research team have analyzed the histories of 28 companies, discovering why some companies make the leap and others don't. The findings include: - Level 5 Leadership: A surprising style, required for greatness.
- The Hedgehog Concept: Finding your three circles, to transcend the curse of competence.
- A Culture of Discipline: The alchemy of great results.
- Technology Accelerators: How good-to-great companies think differently about technology.
- The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Why those who do frequent restructuring fail to make the leap.
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