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. COLLINSA visionary company doesn’t simply balance between idealism and profitability: it seeks to be highly idealistic and highly profitable.
More James C. Collins Quotes
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If I’m going really, really fast, I can do a page of finished text a day, on average.
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Discipline is consistency of action.
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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.
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The greatest leaders build organizations that, in the end, don’t need them.
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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.
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…the question, Why try for greatness? would seem almost tautological. 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.
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I’ve never found an important decision made by a great organization that was made at a point of unanimity.
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An organization is not truly great, if it cannot be great without you.
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It’s what you do before you are in trouble, so that you can be strong when people most need you.
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The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you’ve made a hiring mistake. The best people don’t need to be managed. Guided, taught, led-yes. But not tightly managed.
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The only mistakes you can learn from are the ones you survive.
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Consider the idea that charisma can be as much a liability as an asset. Your strength of personality can sow the seeds of problems, when people filter the brutal facts from you.
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Mediocrity results first and foremost from management failure, not technological failure.
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Our findings do not represent a quick fix, or the next fashion statement in a long string of management fads, or the next buzzword of the day, or a new ‘program’ to introduce. No!
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The main point is first get the right people on the bus (and wrong people off the bus) before you figure out where to drive it. The second key point is the degree of sheer rigor in people decisions in order to take a company from Good to Great.
JAMES C. COLLINS






