Good to Great Why Some Companies Make the Leap - Book Report/Review Example

About a Book The book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t was written by Jim Collins and published in October, 2011 as his masterpiece. The language proficiency of the book is English, and a red print is given to the front cover whose title is outlined in bold for easy identification as well as show the essence of what is contained therein. The author provides reason for failure of firms to become great and provides structure and techniques of growing from good to great (Collins 11). He describes greatness as being far much better in financial performance than the overall market within a given period of time. He further outlines key contributory factors that enable the change and establishes that a company needs to have competence in the utilization of available resources. These factors are outlined in sequences based on the process of change, each covering a major discussion and expounding on the previous one without negating from the topic. Basically, the key area that the book addresses is on the ideas that a company can become great and even gives a procedure on how to. The achievement of greatness as the author explains does not arise out of continuous circumstance but is achieved through proper discipline and through great choices. He comes to this conclusion based on a five years research project that compares great companies and others that have not achieved that greatness and elucidates that firms have a big role to play to address the issue. Collins outlines major issues in the book such as seven characteristics of companies that have achieved greatness which he breaks down into subdivisions. The level five leadership traits are presented properly, and this is a tool that can be utilized by leaders or business owners undergoing periods of stagnancy to propel their work forward and diversify their businesses. Ideally, the book is a source of advice and motivation. Various firms can invest and take the contents or the information in the book, learn and then use it to better their firm to a position such as they compete with other high ranking institutions (Collins 34). By looking at the type of leadership and the areas that need to be addressed and changed, the management can effectively gear their firms in the right direction focusing on the seven traits. These techniques are further broken down in an easy to observe the way, each describing a major concept most of which if well utilized can impart change. The seven characteristics are described below into two major divisions. The flywheel effect The concept is built to show how several efforts can be combined to drive change just like the issue of compound interest. It shows how change can be driven by actions and added activities to expand the size of a business. The author describes a huge, heavy and massive flywheel that is at a standstill and likens it to an enterprise. The wheel is a metal disk that has been fixed to an axe, and to make it move, one need to make an effort to push it. After a while, the wheel can make an inch, and if continuous effort is applied, then it inches forward to make a turn. Following consecutive efforts, the wheel moves faster with several rotations and with every turn, it gathers momentum. The speed enables the wheel to turn in ones favors even to a point when a person is no longer pushing. However, it continues to accelerate, rotating at a higher speed and gathering momentum which brings out, the flywheel effect. In this case, the owners of business have duties to propel their business forward in the desired direction. The concept explains an ideal business situation, the players, the motion and what it is like to adopt new strategies as well as getting other team members to (Collins 64). The changing environment involves coming up with tangible evidence, accountability credibility and authenticity in monitoring the activities of the company. The change from good to great involves setting goals or motion, keeping up the pace which is consistency and moving towards a specific direction. The author however emphasizes that this environment should be conducted with real people who need to be a part of a winning team. He elucidates that the team produces real results and gain the feeling that they are a part of a project that worked. In this case, they feel the magic of the motion and bundle up to apply more effort on the wheel pushing hard until the target is achieved. Discipline The idea on discipline is spread out on the whole book but brought out on three major aspects including actions, thought and direction. The sense of direction relates to identifying the right and key people to propel the business forward first before looking at where one is going. The author defines the thought process in the hedgehog concept which explains the need to thing big. In choosing the personnel to work with which is basically the first key thing a manager should do, Collins presents a picture of a bus driver whose truck is not in motion (Collins 77). The driver however has to move the bus and therefore has to decide where to go, how and with whom. He does not announce first where, but he fills the seats with people moving in the direction he sets. Therefore, managers of great companies start with filling the right people in the right seats pull of the wrong people and then set the pace. He explains that people think that these leaders begin by communicating new strategies and corporate visions but instead they consider whom before going to what. Irrespective of the importance of the venture, companies that have transformed from good to great have first chosen the personnel before focusing on the direction. In identifying the right people, self- motivated, team builders and focused personnel should be selected. He explains that even if the direction is right, provided the team is wrong, then the results are poor. The author emphasizes that great vision with mediocre personnel cannot be achieved. Disciplined thought process brings out the concept of a hedgehog that is compared to a fox. The hedgehog knows one big thing while a fox knows many small items. A great leader assumes the hedgehog where one is simple but having great insight and understanding. The leader is able to simplify complex problems into organized ideas which are a proper trait governing, unifying and guiding all decisions made. It involves facing harsh times and decisions making which considers what the business is good at and what the employees are passionate about. Several firms are identified which have had a great transition and whose managers had to face hard facts, as opposed to their comparators. Under disciplined action, the book states the need for leaders to identify not only to do list but also, what not to do list (Collins 92). A great manager differentiates useful ventures and unproductive ones that waste time and energy and fails to act on items that do not fit in the plans. Jim Collins text is inspirational to those who come across it and can be used by most upcoming enterprises. It is a key to proper structural changes and useful for self-motivation especially to individuals who want to begin and attain greatness. The seven key areas provide procedures to begin with when one needs to prosper. The ideas formulated can be used by not only managers, but also by individuals by enabling them to come up with a flywheel concept in their basic responsibilities. Good to great findings apply also in other aspects in life not just in business, and the book provides experiences to learn in most life activities. It elucidates that provided with the right people in the bus; one can steer his way forward and create a noticeable change in their circles of influence. This can be majorly achieved when individuals focus their time and energy on productive ventures thereby creating a powerful flywheel effect with disciplined action and thought. Works Cited Collins, Jim. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't. New York: HarperCollins, 2011. Read More