In an ironic twist, I now see Good to Great not as a sequel to Built to Last, but more of a prequel. Good to Great is about how to turn a good organization into one that produces sustained great results.
JAMES C. COLLINSProfit is like oxygen, food, water, and blood for the body; they are not the point of life, but without them, there is no life.
More James C. Collins Quotes
-
-
Not one of the good-to-great companies focused obsessively on growth.
JAMES C. COLLINS -
Profit is like oxygen, food, water, and blood for the body; they are not the point of life, but without them, there is no life.
JAMES C. COLLINS -
We must reject the idea… Well-intentioned, but dead wrong… That the primary path to greatness in the social sectors is to become “more like a business.” Most businesses… Like most of anything else in life… Fall somewhere between mediocre and good.
JAMES C. COLLINS -
The only way to make any company visionary is through a long-term commitment to an eternal process of building the organization to preserve the core and stimulate progress.
JAMES C. COLLINS -
The challenge is not just to build a company that can endure; but to build one that is worthy of enduring.
JAMES C. COLLINS -
People are not your most important asset….the right people are.
JAMES C. COLLINS -
A visionary company doesn’t simply balance between preserving a tightly held core ideology and stimulating vigorous change and movement; it does both to an extreme.
JAMES C. COLLINS -
The only mistakes you can learn from are the ones you survive.
JAMES C. COLLINS -
The best CEOs in our research display tremendous ambition for their company combined with the stoic will to do whatever it takes, no matter how brutal (within the bounds of the company’s core values), to make the company great.
JAMES C. COLLINS -
By definition, it is not possible to everyone to be above the average.
JAMES C. COLLINS -
Those who build and perpetuate mediocrity…are motivated more by the fear of being left behind.
JAMES C. COLLINS -
It may seem odd to talk about something as soft and fuzzy as “passion” as an integral part of a strategic framework. But throughout the good-to-great companies, passion became a key part of the Hedgehog Concept.
JAMES C. COLLINS -
A visionary company doesn’t simply balance between idealism and profitability: it seeks to be highly idealistic and highly profitable.
JAMES C. COLLINS -
Whether you prevail or fail depends more on what you do to yourself than on what the world does to you.
JAMES C. COLLINS -
You not only want to win a gold medal at the Olympics, you not only can see yourself standing there on the podium, but you can also feel the goose bumps as your national anthem is played; the tears are in your eyes. (That’s how real a dream can be and should be)
JAMES C. COLLINS






