On our family, summer beach trip last week, I read the first edition of "Good to Great" again. If you can get past the dated, if not comical, references to the successful players in banking and other demoralized industries of today...you have a great deal to gain from taking in Jim Collins concepts and team research.
This business/life classic holds up very well. No matter what realities and revelations have hit us hard over the last few years, the "hedgehog" concept, leadership hierarchy, and the cyclical nature of success and growth are still as powerful and compelling as ever.
Fortunately, like the anal-retentive, business analyst, I went to the extreme to dog-ear dozens pages, to circle concepts in bold, and to make notes throughout the book that are pretty revealing as well. I even noted the date of my reading as November of 2002. Looking back and comparing those notes to that period of my career and business cycles and fast-forwarding through the years since....wow. If I knew then what I know now....I would have taken parts of this classic far more seriously than my notes of 2002 reveal and moved to action in different ways.
Find your copy, borrow one from your library, or hit the bookstore for "Good to Great" anew or all over again. You will be glad you did...unless you are already retired and/or enjoying your permanent beach vacation as you read this little blog.
Happy summer to all!
Brad
