Good to Great

            I found the book Good to Great a fascinating study of not just corporate business leadership but also the broad range of human ego and drive.  To me the book was more a study on the character of people than it was on how to drive a business from good to great.  The book had many interesting results and made some surprising statements but to me it felt as if I had known them all along as the ‘hard and narrow’ way.  I also question some of the ideas as borderline between objective data results and subjective data extraction.
            Leadership was pointed to as the largest factor in driving an organization from good to great or causing its demise despite circumstances but it is also interesting to note that good leadership was determined more from the person’s character and personal attitude holding themselves as an example of their organization.  The balance between humility and resolution is their great example and I would suggest it is the balance of such dichotomies that create the pinnacle of those attributes we hallow.  Interesting to note that people who were egotistical put everything into making their own image look good and at times that is exactly what they got.  Those who put into the company made the company look good.  The rewards of self-sacrifice returned to them more than an image whether in a good company or a great leader but also the satisfaction of knowing more was accomplished for the people they served to lead.  The way to greatness takes sacrifice, character and a lot of perseverance.  It is not the easier path but rather the harder and the data in the book stands behind these age old characteristics. 
            The results of the studies done were to me somewhat intuitive at times.  It makes sense that there is no easy shortcut or ruse to get a company out of a bog.  There is also some common sense that you must have a leader to get the group through a crisis.  I must point out that maybe after reading the results these things were intuitive and it was my lack of exposure to the arena of business that left me wondering why the data would be surprising at all.  A few things were surprising but I wonder if they are specific to the business realm.
The real question of mine is whether the conclusions from the data can be transferred to other areas such as the educational realm, politics or government and if it is even possible to do so.  He makes a somewhat broad spectrum sweep in the last few pages where he talks about applying these principles to other areas of life.  He says, “…the point is to realize that much of what we’re doing is at best a waste of energy.  If we organized the majority of our work time around applying these principles, and pretty much ignored or stopped doing everything else, our lives would be simpler and our results vastly improved.”  This is the real ‘silver bullet’ for a majority of the problems in life – do what you need and cut out the rest.  It’s the age old question of how to optimize life; you want life to be the best quality, the least costly and the most enjoyable.  It doesn’t answer what ‘the rest’ really is except in the business realm and even that is left to the discretion of the business (the Hedgehog concept must be determined over time).  The problem I want to point out is twofold.  First, a lot of people do not want to change something wherein the process will take work or sacrifice on their part.  Second, there is a lot to be learned from making certain mistakes and wasting energy on other secondary priorities.  It may be on the road to find the ‘Hedgehog concept’ in whatever you are doing.  It may also be the most serious learning tool yet known to mankind.  You learn from your mistakes – no better teacher.
In my humble opinion, the book was fantastic as a thought-provoking, self-evaluating, ideal-testing research study and many analogies and parallels made to different areas of life.  I feel as though the results confirm some of my deepest beliefs that perseverance is better than show and it is not the mindless fads that change things but the deep convictions within people.  He articulates all the proper ingredients to make a good to great business but obtaining the ingredients or weaving them together is left in a black box.  A level five leader might transform any company but where do you find him?  It is these questions which still lack an answer and I believe will be much harder in the researching.