GOOD TO GREAT

“Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.”

“No matter how dramatic the end result, the good-to-great transformations never happened in one fell swoop. There was no single defining action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no solitary lucky break, no miracle moment.”

"A company should limit its growth based on its ability to attract enough of the right people.”

“The right people don’t need to be tightly managed or fired up; they will be self-motivated by the inner drive to produce the best results and to be part of creating something great.”

"'It occurs to me, Jim ,that you spend too much time trying to be interesting. Why don't you invest more time being interested?' (Collin's advice from John Gardner that he took to heart.)"

“The good-to-great companies made a habit of putting their best people on their best opportunities, not their biggest problems.”

“No matter what we achieve, if we don’t spend the vast majority of our time with people we love and respect, we cannot possibly have a great life.”

““Stop doing” lists are more important than “to do” lists.”

“Bad decisions made with good intentions, are still bad decisions.”

“Those who built the good-to-great companies weren’t motivated by fear. They weren’t driven by fear of what they didn’t understand. They weren’t driven by fear of looking like a chump. They weren’t driven by fear of watching others hit it big while they didn’t. They weren’t driven by the fear of being hammered by the competition. No, those who turn good into great are motivated by a deep creative urge and an inner compulsion for sheer unadulterated excellence for its own sake. Those who build and perpetuate mediocrity, in contrast, are motivated more by the fear of being left behind.”

“Lasting transformations from good to great follow a general pattern of buildup followed by breakthrough.”

“Core values are essential for enduring greatness..."

“It is much easier to become great than to remain great.”

“Mediocrity results first and foremost from management failure, not technological failure.”

“The real question is not, 'Why greatness?' but 'What work makes you feel compelled to try to create greatness?' If you have to ask the question, 'Why should we try to make it great? Isn’t success enough?' then you’re probably engaged in the wrong line of work.”

“In the end, it is impossible to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life. And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work.”

“It is not the content of a company’s values that correlates with performance, but the strength of conviction with which it holds those values, whatever they might be.”

“Creativity dies in an undisciplined environment.”

“Widen your definition of 'right people' to focus more on the character attributes of the person and less on specialized knowledge. People can learn skills and acquire knowledge, but they cannot learn the essential character traits that make them right for your organization.”

“If you’re doing something you care that much about, and you believe in its purpose deeply enough, then it is impossible to imagine not trying to make it great. It’s just a given.”

— Jim Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't (2001)