Good to Great CD: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't

PDestined to be the business publishing event of the year, or even the decade, this is the long awaited new book by the co-author of Built To Last. In it, Jim Collins shares his latest long-term research - and shows how even mediocre companies can become long-term world beaters./P P Jim Collins has become a best-selling classic business author, with 590,000 copies sold to date, and has been translated into 17 languages. /P

Five years ago, Jim Collins asked the question, "Can a good company become a great company and if so, how?" In IGood to Great/I Collins, the author of IBuilt to Last/I, concludes that it is possible, but finds there are no silver bullets. Collins and his team of researchers began their quest by sorting through a list of 1,435 companies, looking for those that made substantial improvements in their performance over time. They finally settled on 11--including Fannie Mae, Gillette, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo--and discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success. Making the transition from good to great doesn't require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy. At the heart of those rare and truly great companies was a corporate culture that rigorously found and promoted disciplined people to think and act in a disciplined manner. Peppered with dozens of stories and examples from the great and not so great, the book offers a well-reasoned road map to excellence that any organization would do well to consider. Like IBuilt to Last/I, IGood to Great/I is one of those books that managers and CEOs will be reading and rereading for years to come. --IHarry C. Edwards/I