Good to Great (New Version) Book Summary - Good to Great (New Version) Book explained in key points
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Good to Great (New Version) summary

Jim Collins

Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't

4.6 (452 ratings)
17 mins
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    Good to Great (New Version)
    Summary of 8 key ideas

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    Finding your “hedgehog concept” will give you a clear path to follow.

    Jim Collins has an analogy for a strategy that good-to-great businesses use to clarify their business decisions.It goes like this: 

    Imagine a cunning fox hunting a hedgehog. Each day, the fox comes up with a plethora of surprise attacks and sneaky tactics to devour it. And each time, the hedgehog responds in the same way: it curls up into a spiky, unbreachable ball. Its adherence to this simple strategy is the reason the hedgehog prevails day after day.

    Good-to-great companies all find their own hedgehog concept by asking themselves three key questions:

    What can we be the best in the world at? 

    What can we be passionate about? 

    What is the key economic indicator we should concentrate on? 

    After an average of four years of iteration and debate around these questions, good-to-great companies eventually discover their own simple hedgehog concept. From that point on, every decision the company makes is in line with this concept – and success follows.

    The hedgehog concept is about knowing yourself as a company, acting in line with that identity, and having a clear goal. By asking and answering these questions, you can grow in a focused way rather than sporadically in several directions.

    It’s all about simplicity.

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    What is Good to Great (New Version) about?

    Good to Great (2011) presents the findings of a five-year study by Jim Collins and his research team. They identified public companies that had achieved enduring success after years of mediocre performance and isolated the factors that differentiated those companies from their lackluster competitors. These factors have been distilled into key concepts regarding leadership, culture, and strategic management.

    Who should read Good to Great (New Version)?

    • Managers, founders, and executives who want to take their business to the next level
    • Leaders seeking to simplify their business strategy 
    • Anyone interested in leading a great corporate culture

    About the Author

    Jim Collins is an American author, lecturer, and consultant. He has taught at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and is a frequent contributor to Fortune, BusinessWeek, and Harvard Business Review

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