WANDA BERGERON
The Alabama Baptist
“Good to Great” by Jim Collins
This was the last book I had to read before giving my senior project at Highlands College in Birmingham. It started out a little slow, maybe because I was so tired and sleepy the night I began reading it. However, once I got into the book and started seeing all of the research and time that went into bringing the true facts and data out and that it was not just the opinion of one author, I kind of perked up.
The research was compiled over five years of data, stock returns and comparisons of several companies such as General Electric, Coca-Cola, Intel and Merck that had moved from “good” to “great” and maintained it over 15 years. The histories of these companies were compared to several companies that failed to move from “good” to “great” (28 companies in all).
The results were really pretty simple: disciplined people, disciplined thought and disciplined action.
The phrase “disciplined people” pertains to both leadership as well as employees. The leaders of the excelling companies displayed a compelling modesty combined with a passionate drive to do whatever it takes to make the company great. Another surprise was that these leaders weren’t all too concerned with a grand vision and strategy that needed to be executed right away. Instead they focused on getting the right people first. A big lesson to take away from this section is that babysitting people, old-fashioned ruthless discipline and micro-management are no way to achieve greatness in a company.
Disciplined thought is achieved in two steps. The first step is confronting the brutal facts, yet never losing faith. The second step is simplicity. Keep the vision simple and make sure everyone on your team understands the vision at all times.
Disciplined action is a natural result of the previous two areas. With disciplined people and disciplined thought, a culture of discipline develops where people have simultaneous freedom and responsibility. They don’t need to be micro-managed because they are willing to do whatever it takes with a high degree of self-discipline. They believe in what they do.
Even though this is a business book written by a professor at Stanford University in California, it taught me simple steps to use in all areas of my life to achieve greatness. In short, make sure your team loves the vision as much as you do and everyone achieves greatness.
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