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Jim Collins: biography and books. All Jim Collins Books

The article talks about who Jim Collins is. The author’s books are masterpieces in the field of management. This in addition to the main activity, is actively engaged in business consulting, as well as research in the field of economics. Published in various major publications.

Biography

Jim Collins was born in 1958. He began research and teaching at the Graduate School of Business, which belongs to the Teaching Award in 1992. Jim Collins in 1995 in the city of Boulder created a management laboratory. There he now conducts research, and also trains managers representing the private and public sectors. He served as director of CNN International. Collaborated with the Marine Corps, the American Association of School Inspectors, church leaders, Girl Scouts, and the Medical Institute. Wife Collins - Joan Ernst - 1985 Ironman winner.

First book

Jim Collins is the author of books that were created based on research that he conducted. Some works are written together with his colleagues. His first book, Built Forever (co-authored by Jerry Porras), explains why visionary companies are generally doomed to success. She was on the bestseller list of Business Week. The work is published in 25 languages.

Bibliography

In 1995, Jim Collins, co-authored with William Lazer, published The Beyond Entrepreneurship. It talks about how to make a company indestructible. The following were the works “From Good to Great” and “How Great Are Dying”. The book "The Great of Their Own Choice" can also be safely called a bestseller. Its circulation is 4,000,000 copies. Presented in 35 languages.

Jim Collins’s book, From Good to Great, tells how to make one of the best out of an average company. For this work, the author conducted a six-year study and shares its results with readers. He analyzed companies that made a breakthrough and compared them to those that failed. All major projects showed some similar elements of success. We are talking about discipline in the team, thinking and actions, as well as the effect of the flywheel. Thanks to this approach, companies achieved amazing results that are many times higher than the industry average. This work will be of interest to students who study the specialty "management", consultants, development managers, company directors, business owners.

Jim Collins’s book, How the Greats Die, is devoted to analyzing the collapse of companies that seemed indestructible, which are now in decline. The author is trying to figure out whether the disaster actually happens unexpectedly, or the company, not knowing what it is doing, is setting the stage for it with its own hands. It also addresses the issue of whether it is possible to see signs of decline from the start and thereby avoid it. The author shows why some companies remain at their best when a difficult period sets in, while others (equal in key indicators) fall to the bottom. The question was also raised about how large-scale various crisis phenomena should be in order for the movement towards collapse to become inevitable. The possibilities of a reversal in the right direction are described. The author shows leaders how to detect, stop decline, and then resume growth. This work is aimed, first of all, at business owners, as well as top managers, striving to achieve success and for a long time to keep their place at the top - to build a company that will exist for many years.

A book called "Built Forever" explores the reasons for the long-term success of various American corporations. Jerry Porras and Jim Collins present their own view on the features of the work of the 18 largest companies. As part of a six-year study conducted under the auspices of Stanford University School of Business, the authors studied prominent corporations in comparison with competitors. They wondered what makes the best companies different from all the others. The work is filled with hundreds of examples presented as harmonious models of concepts that are available for use by entrepreneurs and managers. This book can be a brilliant guide for building organizations that can flourish throughout the 21st century, or even longer.

It is quite difficult to become a successful businessman, to establish a business that will really bring good profit, to please the achieved heights. To achieve progress, you need to have good knowledge, be able to calculate moves several steps forward. The author of the creation “From Good to Great” Jim Collins was able to help many famous businessmen, bosses.

The man worked hard on this work for many years. Together with faithful assistants, he analyzed a large number of successful organizations and scientific works. Getting useful information from everyone, which in the end I was able to convey to readers. The principles of doing business presented in books have been tried in practice numerous times, and always have always yielded only positive results. This work is worthy of attention. You should also read others.

Jim Collins: A Brief About the Author

Jim Collins presented the public with several serious scientific works. These were works on the topic of management. He is the head of the laboratory, which is engaged in the study of the leaders of various organizations.

Good to Great: Foreword

This magnificent edition includes a preface, a general part consisting of 9 chapters, an epilogue, and interesting applications. To catch the full meaning, it is recommended to enjoy the full edition on your own. But, unfortunately, it is not possible to quote it completely, and several interesting ideas were taken for considering the doctrine.

At the beginning of his book, From Good to Great, Jim Collins tries to convey to the reader the idea that people try to stay in their comfort zone. They put off trying to improve. After all, good is stability, but why not try to jump higher. Risk always exists, so stopping in place is stupid. Even starting a garage rental business can be the beginning for something more.

“Only a small number of people live a wonderful life, because you can just live well,” Collins writes, getting to the very point.

A few steps to success

Jim is convinced that the success of any company is achieved thanks to the leader. Of course, workers have weight, but only the boss can distribute responsibilities, organize the right production. He is the pinnacle of the foundation, so the writer identifies five types of leaders at different levels:

People who can show their experience. Their huge potential finds a way out, helping others to absorb knowledge, information.
Employees capable of contributing their efforts to achieve the desired goal. They seek to find mutual contact with all members of the team.
Experienced self-organizing managers. Without unnecessary help, they are able to correctly allocate resources.
Leaders ready to see a grand futureable to move confidently reaching the desired pedestal.
Employees who have high personal characteristicshelping to achieve excellent results.

This is a kind of ladder, reaching one step, the leader must strive higher, but at the same time retaining the acquired skills and knowledge. That is why many successful people are repeatedly educated,.

People are the main thing.

Outstanding leadership must understand that you cannot constantly recruit new personnel suitable for the chosen direction. He should be able to direct the staff already in the right direction. After all, the most fundamental for any production is not at all a product, technology, competition or market. The main place is always occupied by people. The authorities are obliged to understand this, be able to find, and most importantly, competently hold responsible employees.

And individuals who do not have the necessary abilities cannot be held in office. They destroy the integrity of the team, negatively affect the work of talented personnel. After all, few employees want to do double work because of the mistakes of their incompetent colleague. Otherwise, the responsible employee will be disappointed in fulfilling the double scope of duties and decide to quit.

The book "From good to better" is a real guide to the world of business. Jim Collins accurately analyzes entrepreneurship as a whole and points out major mistakes.

Fox and hedgehog

The basis of doing business is to take the famous essay by Isaiah Berlin “Hedgehog and the Fox”. It says that the fox has wide knowledge, the ability to think, analyze, and the hedgehog has only one, but important information.

Every time a predator tries to attack a small animal, it curls up, becoming a prickly ball. And no matter how thoughtful the plan of the sly fox turns out to be, the result remains one - the legs wounded by thorns. A similar situation lasts for several days. With visible advantages, the hedgehog still remains the winner. Therefore, the leader must understand for himself, decide who in the business world he wants to become - a fox or a hedgehog.

Anti bureaucracy

The well-being of the company lies in the ability to fill the staff with the right people. These should be competent specialists, people with high discipline, competence. But at the same time it is impossible to set a rigid framework.

There must be motivation, a peculiar feeling of freedom. The team must understand that they trust him, and the authorities at the same time work calmly without unnecessary scandals and violations. For example, if a person, then people who support this concept and practice healthy eating should be hired.

Introducing New

To achieve their cherished goals, successful companies strive to use sophisticated technology. It is worth noting that the old technologies are taken as a basis, but with a new approach. If everything is done correctly, progress will surely come. But before embarking on the introduction of innovation, it is necessary to carefully consider the entire working mechanism.

This is the only way to find weaknesses and tackle their strengthening. The main thing is not to go to the skew of your business concept. For people outside the company, the transition should be like a revolutionary transformation, while employees will only feel a slight change.

A great company is not just a big word, not an enterprise that has existed for many years, bring good results. This is much more because the money received is perceived for them as a natural process, and not the essence of its existence. Another good literature for an entrepreneur is the book "".

James C. Collins; James Collins Boulder, USA; 01/25/1958 -

James (Jim) Collins is a popular American business consultant and lecturer at the School of Business at Stanfot University. Several works on the theme of the development and management of his own business came out from under his hand. For a long time he published his notes in various American magazines. Collins books have been translated into more than 35 languages \u200b\u200bof the world and are published worldwide.

Jim Collins Biography

Jim Collins was born in the winter of 1958 in a small town in Colorado. From a young age, he noted the ability to mathematics. Therefore, after graduation, Collins decided to enter the Faculty of Mathematics. After studying for several years at Stanford University, the future business consultant received a bachelor's degree. After that, he decides to undergo training at the Higher School of Business faculty in the same educational institution and after graduation he receives a master's degree.

This is followed by a continuous search for yourself and the work of your life. We can read about Jim Collins that he tried several works before embarking on business consulting. For more than a year he worked in a popular American consulting company. However, after some time, he got a new position - product manager at the technology company Hewlett Packard, which develops and sells software.

At the age of thirty, James, like, began to be actively involved in research activities. He was interested in the reasons why some organizations can achieve great success, while others cannot. In search of answers to his questions, he begins to create small essays and tries to develop his own concept. In the 90s. He receives a teaching position at Stanford University School of Business, which he graduated from years earlier. Collins was awarded a prize for contributing to the educational process in 1992. After working for another three years, he became the founder of his own management laboratory in his hometown of Boulder in Colorado. It is here that he currently conducts most of his research, as well as teaching and advising leaders in various sectors.

Many entrepreneurs leave positive reviews about Jim Collins. Throughout his life, a business consultant has collaborated with various socially oriented organizations (medical institutions, youth organizations, churches, military sectors, etc.).

In the 90s, after the return of the future writer to his hometown, he begins to publish various works. So, for example, in 1994 the first book of Jim Collins was published - “Built forever”. The work gained great popularity among readers and for a long time was on the list of best sellers. Currently, the book is a classic enterprise management, which resorted to all the leaders of large companies.

In the next work, entitled “From Good to Great,” the most important rules are laid down by the author. Here, for the first time, the concept of the hedgehog Jim Collins meets. By it is meant a scheme that helps to delve into the analysis of a company's strategy. The work brought the writer so much popularity that it was republished in many countries of the world. The book "From Good to Great" has been translated into more than 35 languages, and still remains the handbook of many leaders around the world.

Since then, several more Collins works on this topic have been published. All of them undoubtedly cause interest among many entrepreneurs. This also happens due to the fact that, in addition to the Collins theory, in his works he also cites a large number of examples of world-famous companies.

Throughout his life, the writer is fond of mountaineering. If you download Jim Collins books, we will find out that in many of them he compares management and business with conquering peaks. Thus, it helps to explain the complexity of this process, as well as its unpredictability (as much as the unpredictable weather in the mountains).

Jim Collins Books Online Top Books

Collins Book List

Great of their own choosing
How the great perish. And why some companies never give up
About Entrepreneurship: Making Your Business a Great and Enduring Company
From good to great socially

Jim Collins

From good to great

Jim collins

GOOD TO GREAT

Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... And Others Don’t

AVERY A MEMBER OF PENGUIN GROUP (USA) INC.

Courtesy of Jim Collins, c / o Curtis Brown, Ltd. and Synopsis Literary Agency

* * *

Finishing work on the manuscript, I decided to go along the route that ran along the steep and rocky slopes of the Eldorado Springs Canyon, south of my home in Boulder, Colorado. I stopped at the top, in one of my favorite places, with a view of the mountainous area still covered with snow, and suddenly a strange question arose in my head: how much would I agree not to publish the book “From Good to Great”?

After many months of seclusion and monastic seclusion, I will be glad to hear what people think is right in this book and what is not. I hope you find a lot of valuable on its pages and you can apply it in your activities, whether it be a business, work in the social sector, or maybe your personal life.

Jim Collins ; www.jimcollins.com

This book is about "monkeys."

I love you, everyone and everyone.

Good is the enemy of the great

Good is the enemy of the great.

And this is one of the main reasons why we have so little of something truly great.

Why dying is so hard is because of unsatisfied curiosity.

Beryl Markham West after night

That’s what makes death so hard - unsatisfied curiosity.

Beryl markham West with the night{1}

We do not have outstanding schools, mainly because we have good schools. We do not have a great government, mainly because we have a good government. Few people live a wonderful life, because it’s so easy to live simply well. The vast majority of companies never become great precisely because the vast majority of them become quite good, and this is their main problem. For me, this became apparent in 1996, at a dinner with a group of management experts who gathered to discuss methods for assessing the effectiveness of organizations. Bill Meehan, head of the McKinsey & Company San Francisco office, leaned toward me and said in confidence:

“You know, Jim, we at McKinsey really like your book, Built Forever.” You and your co-author wrote a wonderful, but, unfortunately, completely useless work.

Intrigued, I asked him to explain.

“The companies you wrote about have always been for the most part outstanding,” he said, “they had no need to make the transition from good to great.” Their creators, such as David Packard and George Merck, predetermined the "great" nature of these companies from the very beginning. But what can you do with those who, having lived half their lives, one fine morning suddenly realize that they created just a good company, but not a great one?

Now I understand that, saying “useless”, Miihan exaggerated somewhat, achieving the desired effect, but in fact he was right - the truly great companies for the most part have always been so. And the vast majority of good companies remained just that - just good but not great. Miihan’s remark actually turned out to be a valuable gift, since it was the seed from which the question that served as the basis of this book grew, namely: “Can a good company become great, and if so, how?” Or disease is being “just a good company” incurable?

Five years after that fateful dinner, we can say without a doubt - the transition from good to great really (hereinafter the author’s italics) is possible, and we managed to learn a lot about the factors and conditions that are necessary for its implementation. To adequately respond to Bill's challenge, my research team and I began a five-year study - a real journey to understand the mechanisms of transition from good to great.

The project concept is schematically shown in graph 1.A. We have chosen exactly those companies that managed to make the transition from good results to outstanding ones and maintain these high results for at least fifteen years. We compared the performance indicators of these companies with those of a group of carefully selected companies that failed to make such a transition or succeeded, but could not stay at that level. Then we analyzed the factors that allowed companies to move from good to great and became decisive for their long-term success. (See the table “Project“ From Good to Great. ”)

Chart 1. A

Those companies that managed to switch from good to great, according to our classification, and which we included in this study, have achieved exceptional results - the average return on shares of these companies over the course of fifteen years after their conversion is 6.9 times higher than market average (2). Compare this figure with the results of General Electric (a company that at the end of the twentieth century, as many claim, had the best senior management in the United States), whose stock returns for fifteen years, from 1985 to 2000, exceeded the market average only in 2.8 times (3). Moreover, if you invested $ 1 in a general fund of companies that switched from good to great in 1965, assuming that until now the yield on these shares was equal to the market average, and at the same time you would invest $ 1 in a fund that included if all the shares on the market, your investment in the companies that made the transition, on January 1, 2000 would increase by 471 times, and the investment in the shares of all companies in the market would increase only 56 times.

Chart 1.B

A wonderful result, but it becomes even more remarkable, given the fact that this was achieved by companies that had previously nothing wonderful did not differ. Here is just one example: Walgreens. Walgreens did not stand out for more than forty years, its performance was more or less comparable with the average market performance. But in 1975, suddenly out of nowhere - clap! - Walgreens shares are beginning to climb higher ... and higher ... and higher ... and continue to climb to this day. From December 31, 1975 to January 1, 2000, the dollar invested in Walgreens beat the dollar invested in the Intel high-tech superstar twice, General Electric - almost five times, Coca-Cola - almost eight times and the average by market (including the take-off of NASDAQ stocks at the end of 1999) in more than fifteen time.

Our five-year study yielded many interesting results, many of which turned out to be rather unexpected and came into conflict with the conventional wisdom; but especially one conclusion is, in our opinion, completely exceptional: we are deeply convinced that almost any organization can dramatically improve the results of its activities and, possibly, even become great if it consistently implements the ideas and concepts that were discovered in the course of our research.

How did the company, which for so long was no different, succeed in turning into an enterprise whose performance exceeded that of the companies with the best management structures and managers in the world? And why Walgreens was able to make such a transition, while other companies in the same industry, having the same capabilities and resources as, say, Eckerd, failed to carry it out? This example alone shows what our research has focused on.

Jim collins

GOOD TO GREAT

Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... And Others Don’t

AVERY A MEMBER OF PENGUIN GROUP (USA) INC.

Courtesy of Jim Collins, c / o Curtis Brown, Ltd. and Synopsis Literary Agency

* * *

This book is about "monkeys."

I love you, everyone and everyone.

Chapter 1
Good is the enemy of the great

Good is the enemy of the great.

And this is one of the main reasons why we have so little of something truly great.

Why dying is so hard is because of unsatisfied curiosity.

Beryl Markham
West after night

That’s what makes death so hard - unsatisfied curiosity.

Beryl markham

“You know, Jim, we at McKinsey really like your book, Built Forever.” You and your co-author wrote a wonderful, but, unfortunately, completely useless work.

Intrigued, I asked him to explain.

Chart 1. A

Those companies that managed to switch from good to great, according to our classification, and which we included in this study, have achieved exceptional results - the average return on shares of these companies over the course of fifteen years after their conversion is 6.9 times higher than average market. Compare this figure with the results of General Electric (a company that at the end of the twentieth century, as many claim, had the best senior management in the United States), whose stock returns for fifteen years, from 1985 to 2000, exceeded the market average only in 2.8 times. Moreover, if you invested $ 1 in a general fund of companies that switched from good to great in 1965, assuming that until now the yield on these shares was equal to the market average, and at the same time you would invest $ 1 in a fund that included if all the shares on the market, your investment in the companies that made the transition, on January 1, 2000 would increase by 471 times, and the investment in the shares of all companies in the market would increase only 56 times.

Chart 1.B

Our five-year study yielded many interesting results, many of which turned out to be rather unexpected and came into conflict with the conventional wisdom; but especially one conclusion is, in our opinion, completely exceptional: we are deeply convinced that almost any organization can dramatically improve the results of its activities and, possibly, even become great if it consistently implements the ideas and concepts that were discovered in the course of our research.

This book is not about Walgreens per se, nor about any other individual company from our study. We were looking for answers to the question: can a good company become a great company, and if so, how? The answers are immutable, universal, which can be used by any organization.

This book is intended to teach the reader what we ourselves have learned. The final part of this chapter is a story about our journey, research methods, and some key findings. In the second chapter, we will plunge headlong into the analysis of the main results of the study, starting with the most provocative one - level 5 leadership.

Fearless curiosity

People often ask: “What makes you engage in such ambitious research projects?” Good question. The only answer is curiosity. For me, there is nothing more exciting than, when faced with a question that I do not know the answer to, start a long search for this very answer. The most wonderful thing is to board the ship and, like Lewis and Clark, go west, saying to ourselves: "We don’t know what we will find when we get there, but we will tell you what we saw when we get back." Here is a brief story of an odyssey driven by curiosity.

Stage One: Search

Having asked a question, I began to select a group for research. (When I say “we”, this refers to our group. A total of 21 people worked at different stages of the project, on average, from four to six people, at any given moment.)

Our first task was to identify companies whose performance would allow them to be classified as great, as shown in chart 1.A. To do this, we took a “fatal” six-month hike into the depths of financial analysis, looking for companies whose indicators would satisfy the following criteria: total return on shares at or below the average market indicator for fifteen years before the conversion; then the total return on shares is at least three times higher than the average for the market for fifteen years after the conversion. We chose a time interval of fifteen years because it excludes pure luck (you can’t just be lucky for fifteen years) or favorable periods in the market. This also exceeds the average tenure of CEOs of companies (thus we were able to separate outstanding companies from companies that just happened to have outstanding executives). We set the condition for a threefold excess of the average market indicator, since this is higher than the average indicator of companies that were considered to be great. For comparison: a mutual fund, which includes the “royal” shares of the companies listed below, from 1985 to 2000 exceeded the market average only 2.5 times, it would include: 3M, Boeing, Coca-Cola, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Motorola, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart and Walt Disney. Good rivals to face off.

We carefully studied and sifted the source companies that were on the Fortune 500 list from 1965 to 1999, and identified 11 companies that made the transition from good to outstanding. (A detailed description of the study itself can be found in Appendix 1.A.) However, two important points should be noted. First, companies had to demonstrate a transition from good to great regardless of industry in which they worked. If the industry as such was experiencing a period of rapid development and the activities of most companies in it were characterized by exceptionally good results, we excluded these companies from the study. Secondly, we argued for a long time whether it was necessary to use other criteria for analyzing the activities of companies in addition to stock returns, for example, the contribution of companies to increasing public welfare or employee income. Nevertheless, we were inclined to limit the selection criteria to a single indicator, since we could hardly develop objective criteria for analysis and comparison based on other factors. The final chapter will examine the relationship between the fundamental principles that guide corporate activities and their long term success, although the focus of the entire study is mainly focused on the question "How to turn a good organization into an organization that has consistently and for a long time achieving exceptional results?"

At first, we were very surprised when we saw the companies on the list. Who would have thought that Fannie Mae would surpass companies like General Electric and Coca-Cola? Or is Walgreens ahead of Intel? This unexpected list of companies - a stranger combination would be hard to imagine - immediately taught us a very important lesson. You can turn a good company into a great one in the most adverse situation. This was the first of many surprises that made us rethink our ideas about corporate greatness.

Table 1.1. Examples of moving from good to outstanding

Second stage: with whom to compare?

Further, we made, perhaps the most important step in the whole study: we made a comparative analysis of the activities of companies that have moved from good to great with the activities of companies in the control group. The main thing for us was not what the companies that made the transition from good to outstanding have in common, but what exactly distinguishes they are from companies that failed to make such a transition. We give an example. Suppose you are trying to establish what allows athletes to win gold medals at the Olympics. If you study only gold medalists, you will find that they all have coaches. But if you include in your study those who participated in the Olympics but did not receive medals, it will turn out that they also there were trainers! The main question: what is systematically distinguishes gold medalists from those who never win medals?

Table 1.2. Companies included in the study

We selected two groups of companies for comparison. The first group consists of direct comparison companies. These are enterprises of the same industry as companies that have transitioned from good to great and had comparable capabilities and resources at the same time, but failed to achieve a radical improvement in their performance. (A detailed description of the selection process is given in Appendix 1.B.)

The second group consists of “failed great companies” - that is, companies that made the transition from good to outstanding performance, but were unable to maintain high performance. We used these companies to consider issues related to maintaining high performance in the long term. (See Appendix 1.C.)

The final list included 28 companies: 11 companies that achieved outstanding results, 11 direct comparison companies and 6 companies that could not maintain high rates - “failed great companies”.

The third stage: inside the black box

Then we began a detailed study of each company. We have collected all the printed materials about 28 companies over the past 50 years or more. We categorized all materials, such as strategy, technology, leadership, and so on, and assigned them special codes. Then they interviewed most of the CEOs of the companies that achieved outstanding results, who led the companies during the period of the reforms. We also performed a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative analysis, covering all aspects of the company’s activities - from mergers to senior management salaries, from business strategy to corporate culture, from staff reduction to management style, from financial performance to staff turnover. It took 10.5 person-years to do all this. We read and sequentially encoded about six thousand articles, prepared more than two thousand pages of transcripts of interviews, and filled out 384 MB of computer memory with information. (Appendix 1.D contains a detailed description of the analysis.)

We compared our study with an attempt to look into a black box. Each new step on the path to project implementation is like a new light bulb starting to shed light on the internal processes that allowed companies to achieve outstanding results.

With all the necessary data on hand, we began a weekly debate. For each of the 28 companies, the group members and I carefully studied all the press materials, the results of the analysis of activities, interviews with the management and the assigned codes. I made a brief report on each company, presenting preliminary conclusions and formulating questions. Then we discussed the materials, argued, pounded the table, shouted, announced a break, thought, argued again, announced a break and thought again, discussed again, made conclusions and asked ourselves again: “What does all this mean?”

It is important to understand that all the conclusions in this book are a direct result of empirical research. At first, we did not have a hypothesis or theory that we would like to test. We set a goal to develop hypotheses, relying only on the facts we collected.

The main method of our research was a consistent comparison of the elements of the companies that fell into the category of outstanding ones with the elements of the activities of other companies selected for comparison, which gave rise to the unchanging question "What is the difference?"

We also adopted the story of the "dog that did not bark." In the famous Sherlock Holmes story “Silver,” the dog’s strange nocturnal behavior served as a clue. The strangeness of behavior was that the dog did not bark, and it was this is led Holmes to conclude that only the one whom the dog knew well could be a suspect.

Us not it was possible to find “dogs” who would not bark when expected of them, which served as one of the main keys to unraveling the mystery of how good companies turn into great ones. When we entered the black box and turned on the light bulbs, we were often amazed that something not seen (as well as what they saw).

For instance:

Exist negative correlation between inviting well-known executives from outside and outstanding company performance. In 10 out of 11 companies under consideration, CEOs were selected among their own employees, and in the companies being compared six times more often senior management came from outside.

There is no connection between the special forms of CEO reward and the transition from good to great. The data do not confirm that the structure and methods of remuneration of senior management are key to achieving corporate excellence.

Strategy as such does not distinguish good companies from great ones. Both of them had well-developed strategies, and we have no evidence that companies that achieved outstanding results spent more time or effort on developing their strategies.

Companies that have achieved outstanding results have, in principle, not focused on what do to become great; they focused on what not to do and what needed stop do immediately.

Technology, in essence, has nothing to do with the transition from good to great. Technology can speed up process of transformation, but cannot serve as their cause.

Mergers and acquisitions play almost no role in enhancing the transition from good to great; two big mediocrity, merged together, will never turn into one great company.

Companies that have transitioned from good to great have paid little attention to change management, employee motivation, and discipline. Under favorable conditions, the problems of responsibility, discipline, motivation or fear of change resolved by themselves.

The companies that made the transition from good to great did not come up with a name, did not celebrate the beginning and did not draw up plans for transformation. Some executives even admitted that at first they were unaware of the scale of the changes taking place in their enterprises. Indeed, these companies have achieved revolutionary changes in their performance, but not in a revolutionary way.

Companies that achieved outstanding results generally did not represent thriving industries, and some operated in disadvantaged sectors of the economy. We have no examples of companies that, out of sheer luck, happened to be sitting on a rocket that flew up into the sky. Outstanding success is not a game of chance, but, as it turned out, a well-informed choice.

Built to Last: Succesful Habits of the Visionary Companies - a book by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, which brought them fame. Published in Russian: Collins D., Porras D. Built forever. Success of companies possessing in denia] M .: Mann, Ivanov and Ferber, 2011.

A description of how graphs 1.A and 1.B were constructed is found in the notes to chapter 1 and at the end of the book. Note author

This group of companies is called comparison companies - the companies that were used for comparison, and direct comparison companies.

Good-to-great is the original term of the author. Literally translated "from good to great," but is used as an adjective in the text. The book uses the following translation options: those who have achieved outstanding results, the great ones, and who have made the transition from good to great.

The calculation of stock returns was based on data from the University of Chicago Securities Quotes Research Center. Key definitions: monthly yield: total return for a given month, including reinvested dividends per share; total monthly return: total return on all shares of the company for a given month, including reinvested dividends per share; total return on shares: the total value of X dollars invested in a single share from moment 1 to moment 2, calculated by the formula: $ X × (1 + monthly yield² m1) × (1 + monthly yield² m2) × ... (1 + monthly yield² t2), where m1 is the end of the first month after the start of counting 1, m2 is the end of the second month from the moment of counting 1 and so on; market average (or simply market) New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange, and NASDAQ. The indicator consists of the total value of all companies whose shares are sold on these exchanges (including reinvested dividends) multiplied by the ratio of the value of the company to the total value of the entire market; coefficient of total return on shares relative to the market: at the end of a certain period, this coefficient is calculated by dividing the total income from X dollars invested in the company by the total income from X dollars invested in the market; both investments must be made on the same day; the day of the beginning of the transformation for companies that have achieved outstanding results: the exact date of the beginning of the transition from good to great is the day when the results of the company’s activity, in terms of the profitability of its shares relative to the average market indicator, began to significantly exceed the market profitability after a long period when they stood at the level of market averages or were inferior to it, and have never dropped below.

According to the University of Chicago's Securities Quotations Research Center, total stock returns were calculated for the period December 31, 84– December 31, 1999 for General Electric and the market, taking into account dividend reinvestment and adjusted for stock split. Chart 1.A is built according to the following methodology: a) For each of the companies that have achieved outstanding results, invest $ 1 15 years before the start of the transformation. Make a similar investment in the market. Calculate the total return on $ 1 invested at the time of transformation, minus 15 years before the start of the transformation and plus 15 years after for both investments. If the University of Chicago Securities Quotes Research Center does not have the necessary data (for example, if the companies were not public companies, appeared as a result of mergers or were acquired by other companies), use the average market figures. b) For each company that has achieved outstanding results, calculate the ratio of total return on shares to the market average for the period from t –15 to t + 15 (where t is the starting point of the transformation) in order to construct a curve of the total return on shares. c) Shift the curve of this total return coefficient for each company so that at the time of the start of the transformation, the total return ratio to the market average is 1. This will reduce all the beginning of the transformation processes of all the companies that have achieved outstanding results to the common reference point indicated by t . Do this by dividing the coefficient of total stock returns to the average market indicator for each month (calculated in paragraph “b”) from t – 15 to t + 15 by the total stock income calculated exactly at the time the transformation began. d) Use these biased profitability ratios to calculate the average ratios to the market average for all 11 companies that have achieved outstanding results for each month from t – 15 to t + 15. In other words, calculate the average for the indicators calculated in paragraph “c” for t – 15 for all 11 companies, then t – 15 plus one month for all 11 companies, plus two months and so on for all 360 months. This will give the ratio of total, total income for all companies that have achieved outstanding results, to the average for the market. e) For all direct comparison companies, repeat the steps in points “a” - “c” using the same dates that you used for their counterparts that managed to achieve outstanding results. f) For direct comparison companies, repeat steps d. g) Graph 1.A shows the results of activities of companies that have achieved outstanding results, compared with the companies that we used for direct comparison, the aggregate average market profitability ratio from t –15 to t + 15, where t is a single benchmark, in which this coefficient is 1.0. Chart 1.B is built according to the following methodology: a) For each company that has achieved outstanding results, invest $ 1 on December 31, 1964 (the date of the first transformation in our study). b) For each company that has achieved outstanding results, calculate the total return at the average market rate of return until the transformation begins, then start using the rate of return, which is average for the companies that have achieved outstanding results. For all companies for which the University of Chicago Securities Quotes Research Center does not have data (this happens if the shares of the companies have not yet entered the market, or if the companies appeared as a result of mergers or were acquired by other companies), use the average market figures. c) For each month from December 31, 1964 to December 31, 1999, add the total return on shares of all 11 companies and divide the result by 11. This calculation will give you the total return on investment in all of these companies. d) For the average market, invest $ 1 from December 31, 1964 to December 31, 1999. e) For each company, taken for direct comparison, repeat steps “a” - “c”, using the average market indicator until the transformation of the corresponding company, which has achieved outstanding results. Note: for R.J.R. we used the average market indicator from 05/31/89 to 12/31/99, as the company, after the controlling stake had been bought out by top management, was divided into parts (R.J.R. and Nabisco). f) Graph 1.B shows market data for both the companies that we used for comparison and the companies that achieved outstanding results, provided that you invested $ 1 from December 31, 1964 to 2000.

Biography

First book

Bibliography

Jim Collins: A Brief About the Author

Good to Great: Foreword

A few steps to success

People are the main thing.

Fox and hedgehog

Anti bureaucracy

Introducing New

Jim Collins Biography

Jim Collins Books Online Top Books

Collins Book List

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Chapter 1 Good is the enemy of the great

Fearless curiosity

Stage One: Search

Second stage: with whom to compare?

The third stage: inside the black box

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Chapter 1
Good is the enemy of the great