Review: Good to Great by Jim Collins

Inspire Fellows are no stranger to Jim Collins. Good to Great and the Social Sectors: a Monograph to Accompany Good to Great is an introductory read for all of us within the first few months in the sector. However after reading the monograph and receiving so many recommendations to read his best seller that inspired it, I finally decided to pick it up.

Conclusion: Good to Great is a must-read for anyone committed to one day leading an organization that truly represents excellence, no matter its tax status.

The book is based on the premise that “good is the enemy of great.” Collins expounds,

We don’t have great schools principally because we have good schools. We don’t have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life. The vast majority of companies never become great, precisely because the vast majority become quite good – and that is their main problem.

Being curious by nature, Collins set out to determine what exactly sets good organization apart from those that are great. He and his research team set out on a “odyssey of curiosity” which started with an analysis of American corporations to decide on a set of eleven that could be considered good-to-great examples and ended with a framework (shown in the image below) that captures the process each company went through to be considered great.

Click here to finish reading my review on the ProInspire blog.