Rating: 
Summary: A very good book, with one caveat.
Review: I found this to be a very interesting read. His group has based its findings on significant research of companies based on outperformance of the stock market over 15 years and includes comparisons of other companies in the same industries and similar starting financial positions as the "greats" that did not outperform. The only caveat I have is that correlation does not imply causality. He finds numerous corrleations between various factors and a company's greatness. These may indeed be the factors which may make a company great, or both greatness and these factors may be the results of some other factor. Additional research is needed to discover if the factors mentioned are indeed the causation of "greatness".
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent piece of work
Review: Wonderfull and an excellent piece of work. With a lot of current business books calling for a new simplicity and return to basics, this book brings a new a fresh spirit to how businesses can find inspiration and ideas that can be great winners. Great writing and great thinking. This book should be read together with Escape Velocity by Idris Mootee, a former Mckinsey consultant, in his book provided a journey through the develpment of business strategy. Put all those theories in perspectives and put them in context of those companies that Jim provided in this book...a lot of amazing discoveries.
Rating:
Summary: From Good to great to the best we can be.
Review: Excellent research and well written. Worth reading and as good as "Built to Last". Read "Optimal Thinking: How to Be Your Best Self" and give it to every employee in your company. Take it from me, an Exec VP of a Fortune 50 company, Optimal Thinking will make all the difference.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Jim Collins and team went from Good to Great since their last book Built to Last. The research put into this book is evident throughout with each example being thoroughly supported with data. The team highlights upfront that the reader may find reasons why some examples do not apply to them since the subset was so small. However, as you read through the pages, you will quickly discover that much more is applicable than you might suspect. Jim's care is also evident in making this a very readable and enjoyable book. The material is presented in ways that will make much of it memorable.
Rating:
Summary: Taking us to the next level
Review: This book has come highly recommended by several of my colleagues. I thoroughly enjoyed Built to Last, so I was looking forward to this book as well, and I was not disappointed. Mr. Collins has another winner on his hands. A key message in this excellent management treatise is that true leaders build organizations that will last long after they are gone. They put excellent people together first and then figure out what the company will do. If the company already exists, they put the right people in the right jobs and then make sure that the company is headed in the right direction. This is right in keeping with what I have been suggesting to those attending my Ethics as a Business Process seminars. We need to make sure we are building human resources and processes for the long term and not be focused on the short term (quarterly) results. Focus on those short term results forces managers to make incorrect decisions for the STAKEHOLDERS. Another key point is that we need to account for the stakeholders not just the stockholders. When we are concerned about all those in our business chain, we do not make decisions that make only one group happy at the expense of others. So customers, employees, stockholders, and those in proximity to our physical plants and services must be taken into account as well. Collins presents the "Hedgehog Concept" and the three circles as a model to make his points. One circle is "What you are deeply passionate about." A second circle is "What drives your economic engine." The third circle is "What you can be the best in the world at." The intersection of the three circles is where we need to spend our time and energy. The Great Companies are more like hedgehogs--they know one big but simple thing and they stick to it, at all costs. They aren't the flashy technology companies, they are the tried and true long term companies that keep producing sustained great results. Collins also presents the concept of the Level 5 leader. Level 1 are highly capable individuals, level 2 are contributing team members, level 3 are competent managers, level 4 are effective leaders. And then there is the level 5 executive or leader who builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will. Level 5 leadership is not just about humility and modesty; it is equally about ferocious resolve, and almost stoic determination to do whatever needs to be done to make the company great. Level 5 leaders are fanatically driven, infected with an incurable need to produce results, and they work at the intersection of the three circles. The book is documented with the Collins trademark studies, surveys, and interviews. He gives us a periodic view of how his research team argued over and hashed out the details which resulted in this excellent book. And the surprise? The surprise is that this is not a follow on to Built to Last but rather it is best positioned as a prequel to that book. If you haven't read Built to Last, read Good to Great first and then read Built to Last. Both are excellent and by reading them in the suggested order, the puzzle pieces will simply fall together. Definitely a five out of five on my scale.
Rating:
Summary: Congrats From Another Management Author!
Review: I believe Jim Collins' "Good to Great" is the most important book to be added to the management literature in years. His team's findings are often counter-intuitive. These are findings that will change the way you manage, and the way you see managers. I highly recommend "Good to Great." Congrats Jim on a Great Book! Michael Beitler
Author of "Strategic Organizational Change"
Rating: 
Summary: Is this the best we can do?
Review: Good to Great examines the transition from mediocre corporate performance to extraordinary performance. Whilst the research contained within this best-selling book is excellent, I found myself using Optimal Thinking and asking "Is this the best we can do?" In my industry, companies strive to be their best and are not satisfied with being great. Read Optimal Thinking: How to Be Your Best Self by Dr. Rosalene Glickman if you want to OPTIMIZE the thinking and performance of your people and your company.
Rating:
Summary: Good to Great Is!
Review: After writing Built to Last, a book which analyzes attributes of companies that have achieved long term success, its author, Jim Collins was chastised by one of his "fans" who commented on the book, "...it's useless... The companies you wrote about were, for the most part, always great... what about the vast majority of companies that wake up partway through life and realize that they're good, but not great?" Collins was intrigued by this question. His research group promptly went to work searching for companies that had experienced a turning point from flat performance to a sustained (15 year minimum) period of spectacular market beating growth. Each of the eleven companies selected for study had achieved returns at least four times greater than the general market while also maintaining higher returns than its competitors. These good to great companies have a variety of common factors:
Leadership: Diligent, results-driven executives who are surprising humble.
Strategy: Highly-focused on being the best at only one thing. Most companies took several years to achieve this focus by considering these three questions: What are we deeply passionate about? What can we be the best in the world at? What drives our economic engine?
Honest Assessment: The most successful companies analyzed their successes and failures and didn't "sugar-coat" mistakes.
The Right People: The author sums it up best, "People are not your most important asset. The right people are." Culture of Discipline: Each company had the discipline to maintain strategic focus.
Smart Use of Technology: Successful companies used technology to accelerate and enable their achievements, but did not consider technology to be a primary driver of results. I suggest that you read Collins book as soon as possible. In addition to providing recommendations to help your own company grow, it may also help your portfolio grow as you predict which are the next companies to make the transition from "good to great."
Rating:
Summary: What a great book - Even Better than Built to Last!
Review: I must admit that I was a Jim Collins fan before because his book, Built to Last, was such a great read on why some companies do so well and other companies, despite the best intentions and the same environment, simply do not do as well. But he has really eclipsed the story with this book. Not only does he clearly explain his research and methodology in this book, but he focuses on factors that are much more "doable". In "Built to Last" the companies had been around for at least 50 years. In "Good to Great" he focuses on shorter term issues and results - things that can be applied, today, in your company. His research team seemed to be top notch. His methodology is structured enough to show validity while flexible enough to demonstrate real issues and solutions. To top it all off, the book is so easy to read! It does not read like a boring business book - it is an exciting story of what the research team found and how they found it. I couldn't put the book down - it was that interesting. If you only have time to read a single business book this year, make it this one. You will enjoy it and learn something that will help you next year to boot.
Rating:
Summary: The best business book I have ever read
Review: There are several aspects of this book that make it as good as it is: * The book cites factual data, rather than ideas and opinions, as the basis for conclusions. The examples are real world. * The themes presented are universal in nature as they apply to running everything from a multi-billion dollar company to a small business. It applies to virtually anyone who is in a supervisory role, regardless of industry or size of the institution. * The writing style is very approachable. Some books will focus on being profound rather than being understandable...this book is both profound AND understandable. I find myself using the thougts and ideas repeatedly in my professional life. It is the perfect starter book for a business leader as it provides a platform from which all other skills and knowledge should be based. I have never read a better book on business
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