{"id":49143,"date":"2021-09-06T14:45:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-06T18:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=49143"},"modified":"2021-09-20T11:06:28","modified_gmt":"2021-09-20T15:06:28","slug":"visionary-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/visionary-company\/","title":{"rendered":"A Visionary Company: What It Is and What It Isn’t"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What qualifies as a visionary company? What are the truths and myths about companies that endure?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Built to Last<\/em>, bestselling author Jim Collins and Stanford professor Jerry I. Porras embarked on a six-year research project to 1) identify the characteristics that distinguished the very best companies, and 2) use these insights to create a framework for those who want to build a visionary company of their own. To this end, the authors identified and analyzed 18 visionary companies that performed exceptionally well over a long period of time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more to learn about the qualities of a visionary company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

What Qualifies as a Visionary Company?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many enterprises come and go, but a visionary company endures for generations<\/strong>. Visionary companies are the gold standard<\/a> in their respective industries because they\u2019ve prospered for decades and at the hands of many different leaders. They\u2019ve become household names, ingraining themselves into our collective psyche\u2014it\u2019s hard to imagine a world without their products, from Band-Aids to Post-it Notes to Mickey Mouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what is the key to these companies\u2019 longevity and tremendous success? Bestselling author Jim Collins and Stanford professor Jerry I. Porras embarked on a six-year research project to answer this question and give practical advice for those who want to build a visionary company that lasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Narrowing Down the List of Companies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The authors\u2019 primary objectives for the research project were 1) to identify the characteristics that distinguished the very best<\/em> companies, and 2) to use these insights to create a framework for those who want to build a visionary company of their own. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors came up with their list by surveying CEOs across numerous enterprises of various sizes, industries, and geographic locations, asking them to identify the companies they considered to be visionary. From there, the researchers narrowed the list down to the 20 most-frequently mentioned companies, then eliminated those founded after 1950. (Their reasoning: Companies founded before 1950 have proven that their success wasn\u2019t a fluke due to one leader or one great idea.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers then identified a \u201ccomparison company\u201d for each visionary company\u2014that is, a company that was founded at around the same time, had the same founding products and markets, and was also highly successful, but not as successful as its comparative visionary company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final 18 visionary companies are listed below. Their comparison companies are in parentheses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n