Business Owners Learning from the Best Seller, Good to Great

Check any listing of the best business books of the last 15 years and you’re likely to find Jim Collins’ Good To Great near the top. We were having lunch with a small business consultant the other day when he could not stop raving about this massive best seller (4 million copies) and the business wisdom this now 12+ year-old book contains. But what does it say to you, a midsize or small business owner? And are the lessons still applicable? Our answers to those questions are: a lot and a rousing yes.

First, remember that Collins based the book on five years of research with a team of about 20 people who contributed 15,000 hours of work to the project. The aim? To uncover the factors that allowed 11 good companies to become great companies (and sustain exceptional results for at least 15 years) while similar competitors remained good companies or went downhill. Let’s review some of the major lessons Collins and his research team revealed. We’ll also comment on how those lessons apply today to midsize or small businesses like yours.

The first distinction the research made between good and great companies is that great companies tend to not have larger-than-life celebrity leaders. The good-to-great leaders tended to be self-effacing, quiet, reserved and even shy. They were not like Lee Iacocca or Mark Cuban or Roger Smith.

This makes perfect sense. To lead your business to greatness you don’t need to be the next Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey or Steve Jobs. You do need to be a dedicated leader who positively motivates the people around you and helps them get the most from their talent. (This is me adding to Jim Collins’ findings. If you don’t agree, don’t blame Collins—send me your opinion and I’ll respond.)  Your company is not about you. Your company is about your company.

A second major factor that led to greatness was focusing on people rather than vision and strategy. The companies who obtained greatness hired the right people in the right positions. These businesses rid themselves of the wrong people and then set the company vision.

As Collins says, great companies don’t tend to led by a genius with a thousand helpers. Great companies tend to be led by a genius leader who enlists a team of highly capable people.