Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make The Leap … And Others Don’t

Each of the eleven companies which met their “good to great” criteria had some key things in common. Collins isolated six characteristics found in each company which helped put them over the top from good to great and describes them in detail in the book:

• Disciplined People
  • Level 5 Leadership - a great leader who built a great team. A servant leader with an eye for talent and team building and setting up their people for success.
  • First Who … Then What – the Level 5 leader gathered around him or her the best people available. They were selected because of their work ethic as well as skills and abilities. They got “the right people on the bus and into the right seats.”
• Disciplined Thought
  • Confront The Brutal Facts – the leadership team looked at the reality of their situation: their business and the marketplace, and made decisions which helped them succeed no matter what. It was not “whitewashing” the truth or “pollyanna” thinking, but a knowledge they will prevail no matter what.
  • The Hedgehog Concept - the business found its core – what they could be excellent doing and stuck to it. There wasn’t a lot of side business or growth through acquisition; rather, the team stuck with what they did best.
• Disciplined Action
  • Culture of Discipline – the members of the team worked together for the mutual success of the organization. Because each person was trusted to do their part so bureaucracy and micromanagement were virtually eliminated.
  • Technology Accelerators – these days people latch on to technology for the sake of having the “latest and greatest.” These great companies evaluated technology and only chose what would help them do business better.

The book itself is easy to read and digest and has a lot of takeaway lessons anyone can start using today. While leading a company to make the jump from good to great may take some time, there are many things anyone can begin doing to get started on the path. The lessons in the book are not only for corporate leaders, but for anyone who wants to learn more about team building, leadership for success and personal growth.

For the statics geeks there are plenty of charts and numbers to help you understand the research in detail and how Collins and company chose the corporations for the study. There is also a couple math proofs to show the companies they chose for the study weren’t just flukes, but genuinely went from good to great.

Photo by Joel Grimes

It’s also important for those who take the lessons in the book and start down the path from good to great to keep up the work. One of the companies of the eleven singled out for study was Circuit City. They had a great plan, great leadership and a company which was outperforming their competitors by a large margin. Given that advantage, should they not have prevailed through the recent economic downturn and competition from Best Buy and such? Although I don’t know for sure, but I would guess the leadership in the company failed to keep working in the six areas outlined above and eventually fell behind. It would certainly be an interesting follow up study.

I recommend this book to anyone who wishes to learn more about leadership and team building. There are lessons for everyone regardless of their place on the corporate ladder.

Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make The Leap … And Others Don’t by Jim Collins (Amazon Affiliate Link)

You can get more information about Jim Collins on his web site.

One “phobia” I have is that I hate to write in books, so I rarely put notes in them. I can count on one hand in how many books in which I’ve written notes. With the Kindle for PC it was very easy to highlight text and type in some notes. This allowed me to save the thoughts parts of the book inspired in me. At the end of this review, I will share some of those notes.

One downside to the Kindle for PC app is that one cannot share books with friends. I like to pass along books I purchase to those whom I think will benefit from them and I can’t do this with the Kindle. Also, there are no page numbers as in a traditional book. I haven’t made up my mind whether this is really a detriment or not.

The Book
Godin starts out Linchpin: Are You Indispensible? (Amazon Affiliate link) insisting everyone is a genius, though, perhaps, not in the “genius” way we think of Einstein, Hawking or other Nobel Prize winners. He stresses, though, that everyone is a genius in their own way. Each of us has something in us which makes us unique and hard to replace in the workforce.

He tells us that we need to find our niche, that thing which is an art to us that no one else can or will do. We need to transfer that knowledge and skill to the workplace to make ourselves the “Linchpin” – the essential piece which holds everything else together.

The great truth is that all of us, no matter what we do for a job, can be a linchpin. He uses the example of a waiter a couple times in the book. One can be a waiter who gives friendly, honest, but otherwise un-noteworthy service. Anyone can do this. Or, one can be a waiter who not only does the minimum, but goes above and beyond by giving the best service possible to each person.  This is the one who remembers regular customers and brings their preferred drinks without asking, who remembers which customers like extra napkins or what kind salad dressing they prefer. This is the person who makes the dining experience unique and who would be sorely missed if she wasn’t there anymore. She is the reason customers tell their friends to come to this particular restaurant. She is the linchpin.

A great example of a linchpin is Dolores at a New York 7-11 who remembers all her customers by name, what kind of coffee they like, and asks about their families. She isn’t just running a cash register and making sure coffee is made. She’s taking that extra step (or three) to make sure everyone who comes into her store feels like one of the family. People drive past other 7-11s and coffee shops just so they can buy coffee from her. The experience is worth the extra drive time.

It’s the art that’s important, and the gift one makes of the art. Seth writes, and I agree, that the more you give away the more you get. It’s really counterintuitive, but true nonetheless. By giving more, you will get more back.

No Magic Formula
Some people will be put off that Godin does not give out a step-by-step plan or a roadmap to become a linchpin. In reality, he can’t because there is no roadmap. Everyone has to figure this out for themselves because each person has to learn what their unique art is and how to give it away. There is an entire chapter of the book devoted to this idea.

The book didn’t teach me anything I didn’t already know. It did, though, encapsulate many diverse things I’d been taught and learned on my own over the years. Godin has a way of articulating things in a way that causes me to think, “Aha! I knew that was right and he explains it better than I do.” I get these nuggets reading his blog, too. The ideas in Linchpin are also things we all need to be reminded of from time to time. Godin has an excellent way of putting into words the details of concepts which otherwise might be overlooked or forgotten.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who feels they are stuck in a rut career-wise and to young people seeking out their place in the workforce. I think it will offer some inspiration to those who want to learn to get ahead in the “new economy.”

Here are some parts of the book which gave me pause for thought:

Quote:
… understand that your competition has been building a faceless machine just like yours. And when your customers have the choice between faceless options, they pick the cheapest, fastest, more direct option. If you want your customers to flock to you, it’s tempting to race to the bottom of the price chart.

In a world that relentlessly races to the bottom, you lose if you also race to the bottom. The only way to win is to race to the top.

When your organization becomes more human, more remarkable, faster on its feet and more likely to connect directly with customers, it becomes indispensible.

My Thoughts:
This is where social media can be quite beneficial. By working hard to talk to customers, to help them solve their unique problems, to help them become artists themselves, we become indispensible. In this way, the value we add to the relationships we have with customers becomes worth more than the higher price we might charge. The product no longer is a simple commodity. Instead it’s paint filling a canvas.

Quote:
… how come the stars in the company don’t follow these three rules? [Those which purport that bosses really just want compliant robots] How come those who get promoted and get privileges and expense accounts and are then wooed away to join other companies and get written up in the paper and have servants  and coffee boys …  how come those guys are the ones who do this stuff? [being just a cog in a machine?]

My Thoughts:
In the Army many people who aspired to leadership thought they had to kiss butt to get ahead. They would advise:“Do what you’re told,” “Don’t think for yourself,” “Don’t take risks.” This is what my friend John calls “The Uriah Heep School of Leadership.” That type of “leader” only gets so far and then his or her career stalls.

The people who really rise to the top are the risk-takers. They are the ones who are willing to buck the system to get better results. They are the “Pattons,” and not the “staff weenies.” I’m not talking about reckless ones who needlessly risk the lives of those they lead. I’m talking about the ones who work in the trenches, who truly care for those in their charge, who spend personal time learning more about their fields and how to be better leaders. They are the ones who make sure their people have everything they need to succeed, who set them up for success instead of setting them up for failure.

In one unit I was assigned to the command had a “zero defect” policy for commissioned officers. This meant, in effect, that if any officer messed up, the command would make sure their career was ruined. This led to a culture of fear, and I believe it was a huge mistake. No one is perfect, I think we all know that. If you foster a climate of fear of making mistakes, you end up creating a fear of making decisions, too. This is bad for any organization.

Quote:
Talking about not having a traditional resume, but proving you are a linchpin by other means
If you don’t have a resume, what do you have?

How about three extraordinary letters of recommendation from people the employer knows or respects?
Or a sophisticated project and employer can see or touch?
Or a reputation that preceeds you?
Or a blog that is so compelling and insightful that they have no choice but to follow up?
Some say, “Well, that’s fine, but I don’t have those.”
Yeah, that’s my point. If you don’t have those things, what leads you to think you are remarkable, amazing or just plain spectacular? …
Great jobs, world-class jobs, jobs people kill for – those jobs don’t get filled by people emailing in resumes.

My Thoughts:
In my post “Be That Expert” there is a great story there about how two guys showed themselves to be experts through social media. Their time and effort in demonstrating themselves experts as in their field paid off in more than just money – they are paid well to do what they love. That’s the best reward of all.

Quote:
You won’t often be able to persuade the standardized HR system to make an exception. A better plan: find a company that understands the value of the linchpin. Find a company that doesn’t use a computer to scan resumes, a company that hires people, not paper.

My Thoughts:
This is like the “zig-zagger” or the “Hybrid” (thanks to Chris Baily and Julie Hunt for those insights) who doesn’t fit into the “normal” hiring process but finds a place which will value what he/she can add to the organization.

Quote:
As we have seen over the past decade, none of that by-the-book marketing schtick works so well. Now, it’s more common to see the success of a brand like Jones Soda – not because founder Peter Van Stolk followed the rules, but because he’s an artist. …

… The Huffington Post, which will soon make more money than any newspaper in the country, threw out the rules. They have no printing plants, no revered style manual, not even a fancy building. Instead, they’re staffing up with artists and change makers. If they succeed, it will be because they confronted the resistance.

My Thoughts:
Think “Chaos Scenario.” The art in the marketing is making the connection with the person who “gets it.” It’s not just a commodity. The formerly cutting edge media are now complacent and stodgy – and they are dying inside. If they do not adapt, they will die on the outside, too.

Linchpin: Are You Indispensible by Seth Godin (Amazon Affiliate link). Well worth the read.

Images courtesy of Penguin Group USA

Loftus breaks the lessons into these ten key areas:

1. Determine Your Mission
2. Plan for Success
3. Stay Focused
4. Prioritize
5. Plan to Implement
6. Communicate
7. Motivate Your People
8. Manage Your People
9. Avoid Project Creep
10. Be Honest

To be sure, Ike did not always succeed at these ten things, but he did succeed where it counted and it brought great credit to him and the members of the Allied military forces. And, while success can teach lessons, failures can as well. Loftus points out where Eisenhower learned from his misques and became a better leader because of them – a lesson we can all benefit from.

While the focus is on Eisenhower’s efforts to lead the Allies during the latter part of World War II, Loftus further illuminates these ten points using events from businesses and business leaders past and present, from Henry Ford to Steve Jobs and from Enron to Time-Warner. It’s an interesting mixture of stories which helps put things into perspective.

As a history buff, I enjoyed the takeaways on how Ike handled things. The invasion of France on D-Day and the eventual campaign to defeat the Nazis was a huge task with only total victory being an acceptable end. The logistics alone bring to mind the worst headaches any business person could imagine. Combine this with having to manage a staff consisting of very strong and powerful personalities (such as Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery and General George S. Patton being the two most colorful) and you can see where Ike had to be a tremendous leader in order to manage the operation.

I recommend this book to anyone aspiring to leadership, whether in business or otherwise. If you are a history buff, I doubly recommend it. I learned a great deal of background information about D-Day which I found quite interesting.

Lead Like Ike by Geoff Loftus (Amazon affiliate link)

Disclaimer: I am a member of Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze book review Blogger program. Although Thomas Nelson Publishing provided the book at no cost to me, this review is my honest opinion of the work.

Andy Beal is an expert in reputation management on the web. His knowledge on the subject is vast, thoughtful and expert. For that reason it is quite appropriate he should co-author a book about (as the subtitle reads) “Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online.” He and Dr. Judy Strauss succeeded quite well with their book, Radically Transparent.

Radically Transparent is divided into three parts:

• Understanding Your Online Reputation – which helps you understand how “The Conversation” works – and doesn’t work.
• Building Your Radically Transparent Reputation – which offers hints, suggestions, tools and methods for building a good online reputation
• Monitoring, Repairing and Planning Your Online Reputation – which offers methods, tools and possible courses of action to take if your online reputation is sullied.

Each section is filled with real life, case study examples, personal experience and best practices to help you understand and work your reputation through various online channels. The instruction contained in the book will give you practical knowledge to help you better understand and use the tools available to tell your story and respond to comments, both good and bad, which you will find on the web.

Although likely not written as a text book (and certainly not dry and boring as text books can sometimes be), Radically Transparent should be a text book for marketing and PR students. It is also an excellent volume to help professionals already in the field to hone their skills to keep up with changing trends in those areas. I highly recommend this book to those looking to learn about or sharpen their online marketing and PR skills.

For a great example of Andy’s work, check out his recent Marketing Pilgrim post “Ten Online Reputation Management Tips BP Can Use Today.”

Radically Transparent by Andy Beal and Dr. Judy Strauss. (Amazon Affiliate Link).

Photos courtesy of Andy Beal.

This book really hit me in a good way. I learned that although not everyone is a “social” person, everyone can learn to connect with others to communicate and lead better. It’s not about trying to be someone you’re not; quite the contrary, you must be yourself. Connecting is a skill which everyone can learn. Like any skill, some learn it easier or more quickly than others.

As I mentioned in a previous post about this book, John looks to add value to each person he interacts with whether one-on-one, through his books or his public speaking in order to help them be better at what they do. He encourages us to add value to those we meet and put others’ needs ahead of our own. Looking out for others is a recurring theme in this volume and it’s a theme well worth repeating over and over. Those who lead by serving will come out in front of those who don’t every time. Looking out for others is what separates good leaders from great leaders and what differentiates communicators from connectors. As with many other things, the great paradox comes into play: Put others first and you will get ahead.

The ten chapters of the book are divided into two parts. Part 1 outlines connecting principles which make the basis for learning to communicate and lead better. Part 2 outlines practices you can use to better connect. At the end of each chapter there are practical tips you can use to help you connect one-on-one, in groups and in front of audiences. The guidance in each chapter is backed up with stories from John’s own successes and failures as well as those of people he knows and some famous historical figures.

If you are into communicating, leading or both then I highly recommend you read this book. If you put into practice the things John teaches you will move up to a whole new level.

Disclaimer: I am a member of Thomas Nelson’s Booksneeze book review Blogger program. Although Thomas Nelson Publishing provided the book at no cost to me, this review is my honest opinion of the work.

The subtitle of the book reads, “Amid the Ruins of Mass Media, The Choice for Business is Stark: Listen or Perish.” Garfield goes on to explain what this means through the 300+ pages of his book. You can get a good gist of the book by watching Bob’s video from his web site The Chaos Scenario:

Sometimes irreverent, very often funny, always interesting, this is an excellent read for anyone who wishes to be involved in marketing (especially web and social media marketing), advertising, or public relations. While you may not agree with all of Garfield’s opinions, you will still gain some valuable insight as to where things are are now and where they are going as you learn his theory of “listenomics.” There are some excellent case studies included to give you a sense of what he is teaching from Lego in Denmark to Beer in Australia. He also includes a detailed history of the “Comcast Must Die” campaign he waged in an effort to secure better customer service from the cable giant.

I put this in the same category with “The Cluetrain Manifesto,” “Groundswell,” and “Trust Agents” as required reading for anyone marketing on the web.

I had the chance to hear Chris speak at last year’s PubCon South in Austin, and was impressed with this ideas on how businesses can move in the social media sphere. I’ve been following his blog and tweets for over a year now, so when he and Julien released their book I put it on my “must read” list.

I wasn’t disappointed. May of the ideas presented in this book are also covered in Brogan’s other writings. What’s nice about having them in book format is that everything is arranged by topics in an easily-digested format along with a lot of material from Smith (who, by the way, is going on my “follow” list).

I approached reading this book from the perspective that people don’t want to be “sold to” any more. People are tired of traditional marketing and PR methods which attempt to tell them how to think, what to buy and how much to spend. I firmly believe the tide is quickly turning against this concept in communications. People have been talking about brands and products for years and The Net allows those communications to flow more freely than ever.

If “companies” and “brands” are to succeed they need to adapt to the online culture. What Brogan and Smith do in “Trust Agents” is lay out a road map on how to understand and join the communities where The Conversation is already going on. They don’t give a set of step-by-step instructions showing how to succeed on Twitter or Facebook, but rather they explain the concepts needed to succeed in social media settings in general. These concepts can be applied to just about any on line community or communications tool. There are a number of examples of real life people who are already employing these concepts, and succeeding, to give you an idea of how powerful these tools can be.

The principles put forth can also be used by people looking to further their individual goals. Are you looking for a job? Then look to be a trust agent. Are you looking to create better relations between departments at work? Then look to be a trust agent. Are you looking to be a catalyst for change for the better? Then be a trust agent.

If you are looking to succeed in getting your message out online then “Trust Agents” is a must read. If you are still skeptical about web marketing, and social media marketing in particular, then you owe it to yourself to read the words of Brogan and Smith to see what you might be missing. Either way, taking time to read this volume is time well spent.

Seth Godin has put together a great ebook entitled “What Matters Now.” It’s a compilation of thoughts and ideas by over 70 “big thinkers.” It’s full of thought-provoking, inspirational and just plain interesting short messages from people such as Michael Hyatt, Chris Anderson, Gary Vaynerchuk, Jackie Huba & Ben McConnell, Ariana Huffington, Dave Ramsey, Guy Kawasaki, Tony Hsieh and many more.

I found this PDF ebook very interesting and worth reading. You can download it for free from Seth’s Blog.

Ralph’s story beings with his life as a child in Cuba right after the revolution which swept Castro into power, then coming to the United States when he was ten years old, and on through a very successful career with Bell South, Cingular and AT&T. Although he has every right to brag about his accomplishments, he doesn’t. Instead he describes each success in his life in terms of what he (and his teams when appropriate) had to overcome to achieve them.

It is an autobiography, but it is also much more. Borrowing from well-known leadership teachers and then adding his own observations, Ralph’s role in writing this book is much more as a teacher than a chronicler of his life. He offers some excellent lessons in leadership such as integrity, values, education, team building, listening and learning, overcoming challenges and much more. He uses examples of his own successes and failures to show that leadership is a never-ending process of learning and doing.

The final chapters are devoted to helping the reader be the leader he or she wants to be. There are specific teaching points which help one to make a plan and work through it. He uses Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. working through the Civil Rights Movement as his role model in how to start up, lead and set an organization up for ongoing success. Ralph certainly has the heart of a teacher as shown by his work with Junior Achievement and the Boy Scouts of America. His teaching extends to those who read this book.

All in all this is an excellent volume. It not only tells an inspiring story about a kid who overcame huge obstacles to become the very successful CEO of a large telecommunications corporation, it uses examples from that story to help the reader become a better person. The writing is very good and flows quite nicely as it transitions from one topic to another. I highly recommend picking up a copy and reading it for yourself.

Disclaimer: I am a member of Thomas Nelson’s Book Review Blogger program. Although Thomas Nelson Publishing provided the book at no cost to me, this review is my honest opinion of the work.

“The X and Y of Buy” by Elizabeth Pace is a good book outlining differences in the sales cycle when selling to women or men. Each chapter covers a different aspect of sales and specific differences between the genders. Ms. Pace’s assertions are taken not only from her own experience, but also research from research including functional MRI studies. The chapters wrap up with a “Taking It To The Street” section outlining the key points of the chapter. At the end of the book, the author’s Gendercycle Selling™ is outlined.

The book is written in a way which makes it easy to read and easy to digest. If you’re interested in things sales and marketing and want some tips on adjusting your techniques to male or female audiences, then this book is for you.

Disclaimer: I am a member of Thomas Nelson’s Book Review Blogger program. Although Thomas Nelson Publishing provided the book at no cost to me, this review is my honest opinion of the work.