1. 1-Sentence-Summary:
1.1. Good To Great examines what it takes for ordinary companies to become great and outperform their competitors by analyzing 28 companies over 30 years, who managed to make the transition or fell prey to their bad habits.
2. Favorite quote from the author:
2.1. "By definition, it is not possible to everyone to be above the average." - Jim Collins
3. 3 lessons:
3.1. Find your Hedgehog concept.
3.1.1. The hedgehog is the king of the forest
3.1.1.1. Because he’s got the simplest defense strategy of them all and in any attack situation, he knows what to do: curl up and become an untouchable, spiky, rock-like, unbreakable fortress.
3.1.2. Companies that go from good-to-great always figure out their very own “Hedgehog concept” – a strategy they can keep pushing for ages, which will eventually take them to number 1.
3.1.3. To find your Hedgehog concept, you must answer 3 questions:
3.1.3.1. What can we be the best in the world at?
3.1.3.2. Which things can we be passionate about?
3.1.3.3. What is the key economic indicator we should concentrate on?
3.1.4. But no rush – it takes most good-to-great companies 4 years to figure it out, so chances are, it’ll take a while to find yours.
3.1.4.1. Two examples:
3.2. Only adopt new technology if it helps you reach your goal.
3.2.1. If you’re jumping on a new technology, just to be a pioneer, or because you’re afraid you might miss out, you’ll have a very hard time aligning it with your actual mission.
3.2.1.1. For example, Walgreens took a 40% share price drop by completely ignoring e-commerce at first.
3.2.1.2. But while competitors rose quickly, and disappeared again a year later, they carefully mapped out their online strategy and used it to boost their actual goal of being the best pharmacy store, for example by offering online prescriptions for pick-up in store.
3.2.2. Always be wary of new innovations. Only jump on the bandwagon once you’re convinced they help you improve your Hedgehog concept.
3.3. Confront nasty facts head on but don’t lose hope.
3.3.1. When you’re just not profitable enough to make it, or your latest marketing campaign sucked, accept it and deal with it.
3.3.2. An example:
3.3.3. Don’t sugarcoat the bad things, but never lose faith in your ability to figure it out.