The World's Best Book Summaries
What business mindsets do the greatest leaders have in common? How does the right mindset help you succeed in business, and what can the most successful people teach you about adopting the right business mindset? We’ll cover the business mindset of exceptional leaders such as Jack Welch and Lou Gerstner and explore how your personal business mindset leads to success for your entire company. This is the growth mindset for business.
What is the “crawl-walk-run” approach to business? Why is it especially important to take this approach when it comes to technology? Good-to-great companies engage with groundbreaking technologies in a very specific way: Rather than bet the house on the technology itself, they think deeply about how the technology can serve the company’s Hedgehog Concept. A good rule of thumb is to follow the “crawl, walk, run” approach—slow down and think about how a technology can help you realize your Hedgehog Concept, then move carefully toward a strategy. Once the strategy is in place and chugging along, however, don’t be afraid
What are the key takeaways from Good to Great by Jim Collins? How does Collins believe good companies can become great ones? We’ll cover the most important key takeaways from Good to Great. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a manager, or just an individual looking to improve, the concepts in Good to Great provide food for thought—and spurs to action. You’ll learn what it takes to be a “Level 5” leader, why assembling the right team first is more important than having the right idea, and why you should be more like a hedgehog than a fox.
What is the Stockdale Paradox? And what’s the downside of optimism? The “Stockdale Paradox” is the stoic acceptance of business realities coupled with an unwavering faith in eventual triumph. This concept was coined by Jim Collins in his book Good to Great. We’ll cover the Stockdale Paradox and why it’s so important to face the brutal realities of the market in order for your business to succeed.
What is Jim Collins’s “flywheel effect”? Why is the flywheel analogy so important to understand in business? The “flywheel effect” is an analogy between a business and a flywheel. A heavy flywheel takes an enormous amount of energy to get going—but once it’s spinning, it only takes a small amount of energy to keep it turning or to increase its speed. Good-to-great companies achieve their key strengths steadily and doggedly; they stay patient in the confidence that, with the right cogs in place, the breakthrough will come. Jim Collins’s flywheel effect came from the desire to head off the notion
What are the Good-to-Great companies featured in Jim Collins’s book Good to Great? How did they qualify to be “good to great”? What can you learn from them? Over five years, Collins’s team of 21 researchers reviewed close to 6,000 articles and generated over 2,000 pages of interview transcripts to determine whether and how companies can go from good to great. We’ll cover the good-to-great companies featured in the book and the lessons they teach us about how to take other companies from good to great.
What is Jim Collins’s “hedgehog concept”? Why is hedgehog thinking important in business, and how can you identify your personal and professional hedgehog concepts? A hedgehog concept is a simple concept in response to the complex facts of reality. The hedgehog principle was introduced by Jim Collins in his book Good to Great, in which he argues that truly great companies are oriented around a hedgehog concept. We’ll cover the Good to Great hedgehog concept, hedgehog concept examples, and the questions to ask yourself and your team to find your own hedgehog concept.
What is a BHAG, or Big Hairy Audacious Goal? Why do you need one if you want your business to be successful? A BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is a huge, seemingly impossible objective that can inspire outsiders and stakeholders alike. The concept of the BHAG (pronounced bee-hag) is explored in Jim Collins’s Built to Last. We’ll cover what a good BHAG or Big Hairy Audacious Goal looks like and how it ties in with your hedgehog concept, another necessity for a successful business.
In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins argues that good is the enemy of great. Why? And must we all strive for greatness? What separates the good companies from the truly great ones? We’ll cover why good is the enemy of great and Jim Collins’s strategies for turning a good company into a great one.
What are the flywheel and doom loop from Jim Collins’s book Good to Great? Why do you want to emulate the flywheel, and how do you avoid the doom loop? The flywheel and doom loop are concepts from Jim Collins’s book Good to Great. Collins likens the process of going from good to great to the turning of a heavy flywheel. To get the flywheel moving takes continuous effort and dedication, but once it’s spinning, its momentum keeps it going. The opposite of the flywheel is the doom loop, a painful cycle of decline. We’ll cover the flywheel and doom