1. For Live, interactive mind maps with all the details - go to WWW.ABSORB.FM
2. Discipline of People
2.1. 1. Level 5 Leadership
2.1.1. The 5 Levels
2.1.1.1. Level 5 - Executive
2.1.1.1.1. Builds greatness through
2.1.1.1.2. The Window and Mirror
2.1.1.2. Level 4 - Effective Leader
2.1.1.2.1. Enables pursuit of vision
2.1.1.2.2. Stimulates higher performance among others
2.1.1.3. Level 3 - Competent Manager
2.1.1.4. Level 2 - Contributing Team Member
2.1.1.5. Level 1 - Highly Capable Individual
2.2. 2. 1st Who then What
2.2.1. first get the right people on the bus and wrong people off the bus before figuring out the destination
2.2.1.1. this idea might be the closest link between a great compny and a great life
2.2.1.1.1. because if you spend a vast majority of your time with great people you will almost certainly have a great life
2.2.1.2. whether someone is the right person has more to do with character traits and capabilities than specific knowledge or skill sets
2.2.2. Be very very rigorous in your people decisions
2.2.2.1. people are not your most important asset. The right people are
2.2.2.2. discipline 1 - when in doubt don't hire. Keep Looking
2.2.2.3. Discipline 2: when you know you need to make a personnel change, ACT
2.2.2.4. Discipline 3: put your best people on your biggest opportunities not your biggest problems
2.2.2.4.1. managing your problems can only make you good, whereas building on your opportunities is the only way to become great
2.2.2.5. Discipline 4: If you are going to sell off your problems, don't sell your best people with it
2.2.3. Level 5+ Mgmt Team
2.2.3.1. Level 5 Leader -> First Who -> then what
2.2.4. L4 - Genius with 1000 helpers
2.2.4.1. Level 4 Leader -> first what -> then Who
3. Discipline of Thought
3.1. 3. Confront the Brutal Facts
3.1.1. contrary to popular culture and media's fascination with one great herculean effort, great results come about by a series of good decisions diligently executed and accumulated on top of one another
3.1.2. two distinctive forms of disciplined thought
3.1.2.1. confront the brutal facts
3.1.2.2. Apply the Hedgehog concept
3.1.3. creating a climate where truth prevails
3.1.3.1. 1. lead with questions not answers
3.1.3.1.1. great leadership does not mean that you know all the answers
3.1.3.1.2. instead it means having the humility to understand that you do not have all the answers and that asking the questions is the path to getting the answers
3.1.3.2. 2. Use dialogue and debate not coercion
3.1.3.3. 3. Conduct autopsies without the blame game
3.1.3.3.1. when you have right people on the bus - it is not about assigning blame, but it is about figuring out the truth
3.1.3.4. 4. Build red flag mechanisms
3.1.3.4.1. it's not that one company has more or better quality information. It is more about turning information into information that cannot be ignored
3.1.4. the stockdale Paradox
3.1.4.1. Adm. Jim Stockdale in Vietnam
3.1.4.1.1. have faith that you will prevail in the end regardless of the difficulties
3.1.4.1.2. AND
3.1.4.1.3. confront the most brutal facts of your current reality whatever they are
3.2. 4. The Hedgehog
3.2.1. Fox
3.2.1.1. scattered and diffused on many levels because they see the world in all its complexity
3.2.1.2. you know many things but lack consistency
3.2.2. Hedgehog
3.2.2.1. they have a piercing insight that allows them to see through complexity and discern underlying patterns
3.2.2.2. Simplify a complex world into a single organizing idea
3.2.3. the three intersecting circles
3.2.3.1. what you are deeply passionate about
3.2.3.1.1. you cannot manufacture passion or motivate people to feel passionate about something
3.2.3.1.2. you can only discover what ignites your passion
3.2.3.2. What you CAN BE the best in the world at, not what you WANT to be the best at. This understanding is crucial
3.2.3.2.1. equally important what it cannot be the best at,
3.2.3.2.2. if you cannot be the best in the world at your core business then it cannot form the basis of the hedgehog
3.2.3.2.3. being the best in the world is much more exacting than just the core competence
3.2.3.3. What drives your economic engine
3.2.3.3.1. look for that one key indicator that has the single greatest impact
3.2.3.3.2. pushing for a single Key performance indicator tends to produce better insight than letting yourself off the hook with three or four indicators
4. Discipline of Action
4.1. 5. Discipline
4.1.1. This book is about creating a culture of discipline
4.1.2. 1st Discipline - people
4.1.2.1. getting self disciplined people on the bus in the first place
4.1.2.2. not trying to discipline the wrong people
4.1.3. 2nd discipline - thought
4.1.3.1. Stockdale Paradox
4.1.3.1.1. having the discipline to confront the brutal facts of reality WHILE
4.1.3.1.2. Regaining absolute faith that you can and will create a path to greatness
4.1.3.2. Hedgehog
4.1.3.2.1. working on the intersection of the three circles
4.1.4. 3rd Discipline - Action
4.1.4.1. rinsing your cottage cheese factor
4.1.4.1.1. having the discipline to do whatever it takes to become the best - within that carefully selected arena as indicated by the three circles
4.1.4.2. having the discipline to stay in the intersection of the three circles
4.1.4.2.1. a great company is much more likely to die of indigestion from too much opportunity than starvation from too little
4.1.4.2.2. The stop doing list
4.2. 6. Technology
4.2.1. technology as an accelerator not a creator
4.2.1.1. technology becomes an accelerator of momentum, but not the creator of it
4.2.1.2. if the technology fits directly with your hedgehog concept then you need to become a pioneer in the application of the technology
4.2.2. technology cannot turn a good enterprise into a great one nor by itself prevent disaster
4.2.3. Great Companies
4.2.4. Mediocre companies
4.2.4.1. react and lurch about motivated by fear of being left behind
4.2.5. Act with thoughtfulness and creativity on application of the technology
5. 7. The Flywheel and Doom loop
5.1. Getting a giant flywheel to rotate
5.1.1. Creating Momentum
5.1.2. what was that one big push that caused this thing to go so fast?
5.1.2.1. a single heave no matter how large is a very small fraction of the entire cumulative effect upon the flywheel
5.2. Egg into chicken
5.2.1. there is no one big thing or one defining moments that made breakthrough happen, that made the egg into a chicken
5.2.2. You can't dissect it or identify the moment, or that one big thing- it is a bunch of interlocking pieces that build upon one another
5.3. The Doom Loop - the failed ones
5.3.1. these companies sought the single defining action, the grand program, the one killer innovation, the miracle moment that will allow them to skip the arduous build up stage and jump right to break through
5.3.2. misguided acquisitions
5.3.2.1. the keys to success of the great ones
5.3.2.1.1. the big acquisitions generally took place after the development of the hedgehog
5.3.2.1.2. And after the flywheel had built significant momentum
5.3.2.1.3. use acquisitions as an accelerator of the flywheel momentum not creator of it
5.3.2.2. the comparison companies frequently try to jump right to break through via an acquisition or merger
5.4. CONSISTENCY
5.4.1. you have to maintain consistency over time; each push to the flywheel builds on all the previous thousands of pushes
5.4.2. if you continue to push in a consistent direction accumulating momentum step-by-step & turn by turn you will eventually reach breakthrough.
5.4.2.1. it might not happen today or tomorrow or next week or next year
5.4.2.1.1. but it will happen
5.5. the illusion of one miracle moment
5.5.1. no matter how great the result, the transformation never happens in one giant step
5.5.2. There is no single defining action no grant program nor wrenching revolution, no lucky break
5.5.3. Instead it is a cumulative process of step-by-step, action by action, decision by decision, turn by turn of the flywheel that all add up to amazing results
5.5.4. THE MEDIA
5.5.4.1. often the media does not cover a company until the flywheel was already turning at thousand rotations per minute
5.5.4.2. this often skews our perception of how these transformations happen - giving us the illusion of an overnight success
5.5.5. no matter how short or long it took, every transformation to greatness had the same basic pattern
5.5.5.1. accumulating momentum
5.5.5.2. Turn by turn of the flywheel until the buildup transformed into breakthrough
6. Good to Great to Built to Last
6.1. BUILT to Last
6.1.1. Clock Building; Not time telling
6.1.1.1. build an organization that can end your and adapt to multiple generations of leaders and time cycles
6.1.2. Genius of AND
6.1.2.1. embrace both extremes on different dimensions at the same time
6.1.2.1.1. purpose and profit
6.1.2.1.2. Freedom and structure
6.1.2.1.3. Continuity and change
6.1.3. Core Ideology
6.1.3.1. discovery your core values and purpose beyond just making money
6.1.3.1.1. it doesn't matter what your core values are as long as you have them and you execute upon them
6.1.4. Preserve Core and Stimulate Progress. The Yin and Yang
6.1.4.1. Yin & Yang of Greatness
6.1.4.1.1. Preserve
6.1.4.1.2. Change
6.2. Why Greatness
6.2.1. it is no harder to build something great than to build something good
6.2.1.1. it might be statistically more rare to reach greatness but it does not require more suffering than perpetuating mediocrity
6.2.1.2. it involves less suffering and perhaps even less work
6.2.1.3. clarity about what is vital and what is not; that is what makes it all very effective
6.2.2. this entire book in some ways is about clarity and simplification
6.2.2.1. you have to realize that much of what we are doing is at best a waste of energy
6.2.2.2. if we organize the majority of our work time around applying these principles and ignored everything else our lives would be simpler and the results would be vastly improved
6.2.3. if it is no harder and the results are better and the process is much more fun; why would you NOT go for greatness?
6.2.3.1. turning good to great takes energy but the Building momentum adds more energy back into the loop
6.2.3.2. conversely perpetuating mediocrity is an inherently depressing process and drains much more energy than it puts back in