Chapter 1 - Good is the Enemy of Great
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1.
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Larger than life celebrity CEOs were found to have an impact on great companies?
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2.
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Long term strategic planning was found to have an impact on great companies.
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3.
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Mergers and acquisitions play a huge role in transforming companies from good to great.
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4.
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Great companies focus on what not to do as equally as what to do.
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5.
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Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness is largely a matter of conscious choice.
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Chapter 2 - Level 5 Leadership
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6.
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In the "Good to Great" hierarchy, a Level 5 executive builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.
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7.
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A Level 1 leader is a "contributing team member" in the "Good to Great" hierarchy.
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8.
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The ambition of Level 5 leaders is first and foremost for the institution (company), not themselves.
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9.
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Many leaders of the comparison companies set their successors up for failure.
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10.
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Abraham Lincoln was a Level 5 president.
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Chapter 3 - First Who . . . Then What
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11.
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"First who…then what" means get the right people on the bus, then figure out the path to greatness.
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12.
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The "genius with a thousand helpers" model seems to be successful even when the genius leaves.
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13.
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Getting the right people is only effective when it's "before" direction, strategic planning, and tactics.
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14.
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Good to great leaders are rigorous, not ruthless, in people selection.
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15.
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The old adage "People are your most important asset." is correct.
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16.
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When in doubt, don't hire - keep looking.
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17.
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"Good to Great" companies put their best people:
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  on their biggest problems
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on their smallest problems
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on their biggest opportunities
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on their smallest opportunities
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Chapter 4 - Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith)
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"Good to Great" companies breakthrough results come about by:
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Enough luck to stumble into the right set of decisions
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Being in the right place at the right time
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A series of good decisions, diligently executed and accumulated one on top of another
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The infusion of strict processes at all levels
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"Good to Great" companies infuse the decision making process with the brutal facts of reality.
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20.
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Charisma can be as much a liability as an asset.
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21.
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To get to the truth, lead with answers, not questions.
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22.
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Spending time and energy to motivate people:
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Should be your first priority
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Is the foundation for success
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Should occur before direction and strategy
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Is a waste of effort because the right people will be self-motivated
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23.
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Engage in dialogue and debate, not coercion.
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24.
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"Good to Great" companies faced less adversity than the comparison companies.
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Chapter 5 - The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles)
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To hedgehogs, the essence of profound insight is simplicity.
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26.
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Foxes emerge scattered, diffused, and inconsistent.
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27.
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The hedgehog concept is:
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A goal
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A strategy
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An understanding
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An intention
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28.
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The council can be a useful device in the hedgehog concept.
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29.
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You need to be in a great industry to produce sustained great results.
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30.
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The key is to understand what your organization can be the best in the world at?
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31.
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To go from good to great requires a deep understanding of three intersecting circles translated into a simple, crystalline concept.
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32.
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"Good to Great" companies understand that doing what you are good at will only make you good and:
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Good is good enough
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Focusing solely on what you can potentially do better than any other organization is the only path to greatness
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Focusing solely on what you can potentially do better than any other organization is a waste of time
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The path to greatness is defined by being good
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Chapter 6 - A Culture of Discipline
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33.
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Amgen avoided bureaucracy and hierarchy and instead created a culture of discipline.
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34.
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The fact that something is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is irrelevant if it doesn't fit within the three circles.
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35.
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Sustained great results depend upon building a culture full of self-disciplined people who take disciplined action, fanatically consistent with the three circles.
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36.
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Bureaucratic cultures arise to compensate for incompetence.
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37.
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The purpose of budgeting in good to great companies is to decide how much each activity gets.
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38.
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A culture of discipline is all about action.
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39.
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"Stop doing" lists are more important than "to do" lists.
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Chapter 7 - Technology Accelerators
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40.
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How a company reacts to technological change is a good indicator of its inner drive for greatness versus mediocrity.
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41.
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Technology is good for its own sake irregardless of whether it fits into your hedgehog philosophy or not.
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42.
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When used right, technology becomes an accelerator of momentum, not a creator of it.
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43.
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Mediocre companies are motivated more by the fear of being left behind.
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44.
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"Crawl, walk, run" can be a very ineffective approach.
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45.
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Technology by itself is never a primary cause of either greatness or decline.
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Chapter 8 - The Flywheel and the Doom Loop
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The good to great matrix of creative discipline charts an organizations culture of discipline and its:
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Ability to change
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Predisposition to creative thinking
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Ethic of entrepreneurship
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Willingness to think outside the box
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47.
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Good to great comes about by a cumulative process, step by step.
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48.
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Good to great transformations often look like dramatic revolutionary events from the inside.
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49.
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Most good to great executives were keenly aware when a transformation was underway.
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50.
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No matter how dramatic the end result, the good to great transformations never happened in one fell swoop.
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51.
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The doom loop starts with buildup and moves to breakthrough.
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52.
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Unsustainable transformations follow a predictable pattern of buildup and breakthrough.
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53.
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The good to great leaders spent essentially no energy trying to create alignment, motivate the troops, or manage change.
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54.
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"Good to Great" companies used acquisitions as :
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As a creator of flywheel momentum
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The foundation of their Hedgehog Concept
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Relief from core business ailments
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An accelerator of flywheel momentum
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Chapter 9 - From Good to Great to Built to Last
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55.
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In great companies, shareholder return, like blood and water to the healthy body, is essential for life, but is not the very point of life.
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56.
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"Good to great" is a prequel to "built to last".
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57.
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Enduring great companies preserve their core values and purpose.
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58.
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Core values and purposes should adapt.
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59.
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The business strategies and operating practices of enduring great companies are endlessly adapting to a changing world.
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60.
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Operating practices and strategies should be preserved.
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