• Good to Great

  • Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't
  • By: Jim Collins
  • Narrated by: Jim Collins
  • Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (17,327 ratings)

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Good to Great  By  cover art

Good to Great

By: Jim Collins
Narrated by: Jim Collins
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Publisher's summary

Built to Last, the defining management study of the '90s, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning.

But what about companies that are not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? Are there those that convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? If so, what are the distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great?

Over five years, Jim Collins and his research team have analyzed the histories of 28 companies, discovering why some companies make the leap and others don't. The findings include:

  • Level 5 Leadership: A surprising style, required for greatness
  • The Hedgehog Concept: Finding your three circles, to transcend the curse of competence
  • A Culture of Discipline: The alchemy of great results
  • Technology Accelerators: How good-to-great companies think differently about technology
  • The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Why those who do frequent restructuring fail to make the leap
©2001 Jim Collins (P)2005 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Like Built to Last, Good to Great is one of those books that managers and CEOs will be reading and rereading for years to come." (Amazon.com review)
"If you believe that a visionary leader with a strong ego is an essential component of sustained business success, then Jim Collins has a few thousand words for you. His carefully researched audiobook explains that the success of companies that outperform the market for 15 years in a row comes from selfless leadership, rigorous focus, and a culture of discipline....[T]here's another reason this book has burst through as a bestseller, which you can feel in Collins's narration: He is honestly excited about his research and unconventional findings. ( AudioFile)

Featured Article: 55+ Powerful and Inspiring Quotes to Guide Your Leadership Journey


What makes a great leader? While leadership styles vary, most experts agree that the best leaders have key characteristics in common. Gathered from a wide range of audiobooks—classic novels, management guides, sci-fi thrillers, political memoirs, and more—this collection of quotes reinforces and reflects on seven hallmarks of every great leader. These quotes offer insights to help you develop core leadership qualities and rise to the calling.

What listeners say about Good to Great

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Not that great not good

I know I am supposed to love this book, it's noted as a classic and business essential. Perhaps I am late to the book, finding the ideas and concepts no longer new rather common sense. There are good basic principles here in building the correct team, identifying where to focus and examining with questions in converse of answers. On the flip side I found BHAG, HedgeHog concepts and often the stories unentertaining and poor names to identify important themes that I will never call them by such in the business world.

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Refreshing!

I should've read Good to Great years ago, but the bad reviews by some writers (who said that the book was full of flaws) dissuaded me to. Last week I bougth the book at an Audible's sale and what a good surprise I had! The book is FANTASTIC! Entertained me and taught me a lot. I really don't think that the book has flaws. Jim Collins persuaded me to buy the whole collection of his books.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

The Message leaves a Rather Bleak Sinking Feeling

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

There is no doubt a lot of truth in the message of this book. Clearly when it was written there was a great need for ego depletion and there were far to many over sized personalities running the business world. The idea that you don't have enough time or money to change the way people think, so just pick the right people and throw those that are not on board off the bus sounds like an idea that might work in a world of contracted projects. However the book also suggests that you should only promote the quiet steady employee that puts only the greater good of the company at the center of his life to the driving seat. What the book doesn't tell you is where these characters which they say have appeared guiding companies to 300% improvement can be found and why they would be that way.

I read this book because it was given a high rating by a lot of my work associates but I did not really feel that it took my base line of knowledge a lot further forward. It lacks the human factor that I want to see combined with good analysis.

Did Good to Great inspire you to do anything?

It was one of those books that inspired me to read a lot of other books to quickly regain perspective and balance as it really did leave me with a sinking feeling.

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Epic in business literature

This is a great book because hardly you'll ever find literature that marry theory to practice. The fact that it took six years in the making makes it a necessary read for everyone in business including fresh graduates, undergrads and entrepreneurs. Enjoy

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Draws Broad Conclusions from Flawed Research

Would you try another book from Jim Collins and/or Jim Collins?

No

What do you think your next listen will be?

Lust for Life

How could the performance have been better?

It was pretty bland, though the book was so bad, I don't see a way of making it better.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

I was frustrated by the ridiculous conclusions the author came up with based on highly flawed research, which itself was based on shaky premises. The idea that you can measure a company's "greatness" by its stock price set the stage for a highly disappointing book. I think the author actually set out to prove the hypothesis that a "level 5 leader" could turn a good company into a great company. Therefore, the so called research was designed to demonstrate this.

Any additional comments?

The research methods used were incredibly flawed and some of the conclusions the author drew were truly baffling. There were many inconsistencies, such as when he lauded one company for breaking away from its core business ("selling the mills"), then later criticizing another for doing essentially the same thing. He also annoyed me every time he referred to the "hedgehog concept." It was pretty obvious that the author wanted to coin a phrase, based on a story he told, because he repeated the phrase over and over, even though he applied it inconsistently. Anyway, the proof is in the pudding since some of the companies he held up as great (Circuit City, Wells Fargo, Fannie May), actually became epic fails or would have if the government didn't bail them out. The author tried to cover himself by saying that his conclusions were based on the condition of the companies' stock prices during particular periods of time. What a cop out! During the time periods, he surveyed these companies, the seeds for their failure were already being sown. Anyway, I could go on and on. Do yourself a favor and don't bother with this book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Business education at its best!!!

Excellent information! Well studied case histories, Jim's team thoroughly investigates each company's history used in the book, then gives a comparison company to allow us "the listener" know exactly what the companies people did to make that particular company succeed in certain area's or fail... each scenario is so detailed there is no room for error. This book is very well written.
Thank you so much Jim Collins & the people that helped you write this book, I loved it!!!
I Loved: "How the Mighty fall", too!

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Not worth the read

For a class I had to read / listen to this book. It may have been to the point back when it was written. But now I do not see the worth. Examples he uses ironically had to be bailed out by the government when our economy crashed. So it is really good advise? In this economy I think a lot of books will need to be rewritten - unless you have to read this for class, I would pass

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Lessons and Guidance for Living with Purpose

I am not a CE9x I have no plans or no aspirations to be a CEO. Yet I found this book to be full of hope, inspiration to live a life of purpose. it’s unexpectedly applicable to everyone.

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Boring

Typical MBA blah blah blah. This is your dad's business book. So over hyped.

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Great book!!!

This is a great book. 1st half captivated me the most. I would strongly recommend especially for those struggling to move their organization forward.

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