"Good to Great" Book Review
Daniel Crosby • January 22, 2025
“Good to Great” by Jim Collins is a really fun read, at least it is if you’re a business, leadership, personal growth nerd like me.
He did an enormous research study about why some companies are good and why some go on to greatness. You’ll recognize nearly every company and brand he refers to.
But you don’t have to own or lead a business to gain value from this book. It’s easy to adapt the principles for personal growth as well.
Here are 3 snippets of principles he teaches:
First Who Then What – Focus on getting the right people on your team and then decide what direction you’re going to go. Personally, how about that in terms of dating and friendships? The people we surround ourselves with can either elevate or detract from our life goals.
Confront the Brutal Facts – Especially in the south, where I live, people want to be “nice.” In fact, they sometimes want to be so “nice” they end up lying right to your face. Part of success is finding the truth. How valuable in business and relationships would it be to have someone by your side who states the truth and confronts you with the facts every single time?
A Culture of Discipline – We’ve all admired people who seem to have immense self-discipline whether it’s work ethic or personal health. The same is true in business. Setting a standard and abiding by it is crucial to success of moving from good to great. When we waver on our standards that’s when we get shaky and lose focus.
So if you’re like me and your life is pretty good but you’d like for it to be truly great, then you have to go grab this one. “Good to Great” by Jim Collins.
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“My Life and Work” by Henry Ford is the autobiography by the famed automaker. Yes, that Ford, like the one in your driveway. Why read this one? One, I’m obsessed with learning. Two, I read things that are interesting to me. Three, I want to be successful and not waste this life God gave me. One way I can succeed is from learning from interesting people who succeeded in the past. Success is relative, and while I don’t want to start a car company, I do want my life to have an impact in some way. Henry Ford’s life and work were fascinating. Three things I learned: 1. Ford had an attitude of persistence. He kept going until he found what worked. Setbacks are not failures, just opportunities to try again. 2. Ford knew that people mattered. While known for his radical and maybe even perfectionistic efficiency when it came to inventing the assembly line, he never lost sight of the value that individual workers have in making that system work. 3. Ford believed in service above profit. He knew that if he gave the customer a good product at a fair price and treated them well then the profits would take care of themselves. What all could we accomplish if we simply lived and worked by those 3 principles?
