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Summary: More than just a business book !
Review: The problem with alot of organizations in the USA (and probably throughout the world) is that they settle for "Good". "Good" is "good enough". Jim Collins points out early in his book that Good is the enemy of Great!The concepts in the book make intuitive sense and Jim Collins provides excellent examples from both the business world and from the "real world". Mr. Collins also has a great knack for bringing the concepts to life with colorful imagery such as the "Hedgehog Concept", the Stockdale paradox and the Flywheel / Doom Loop concepts. This book is not only interesting to read, but also provides highly useful ideas that can be applied to almost any situation. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who wants their work to really mean something or wants to be part of something great ...
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Summary: Collins does for companies what Covey did for people
Review: Both 'Good to Great' and 'Built to Last' are must reads for not just CEOs but anyone at every level of an organization (NOT JUST A BUSINESS)! I have yet to read any management or business publications that better verbalize the road to success. These are books that can turn around your organization or your life. Individuals as well as companies should have BHAGs and mission statements and every one should strive to be a Level 5 leader and get the right people on your own personal bus. If you are a young student of management, a retiring business executive, or anyone in between then these books are must reads. Outstanding!
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not as good as Build to Last
Review: I've read this book to page 238 and decided to drop it. Too many repetitions, again and again. And I don't quite like the flywheel theory but the breakthrough fundamental one. Five years in preparation this book is a great task but it seems that the whole thing is still based upon all companies' stock market values. Suppose this book was prepared completely based upon those stock value and just before it finished, the whole stock market value went down like burst bubble. That's why I got a weird feeling when reading this book. Anyway, this is a good book except with too many repetitions; all the examples J.C. wrote had become so tiresome since it repeated too many times again and again. But there are two great reading moments for me in this book: 1) that steel worker with 9 children just could not stop crying after his boss told him "Yes, every one of them will get $ every year for total 4 years if they decide to go to college, 2)Jim Collins' wife decided to win the "Iron(wo)man Contest" at the breakfast table. Now, I finally understand why he said one the three goals in his life is to win the respect of his wife. I respect that and salute to his wife too. You and your wife are one of the greatest couples on the planet.
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Summary: Good to Great. . . is Great
Review: There are many good companies, firms which generally sell satisfactory products or services at reasonable prices. However, the definition of a "great" company is a bit more elusive. How can a good company become a great company? The author, along with a team of researchers, examined nearly 1,500 companies, determining which have made great strides in their performance over the years. The book is written in an engaging style which clearly outlines the key components of what makes a business a great one. Those components emphasize discipline, integrity, commitment, persistence, clarity of vision etc. - fundamental principles of success to be sure, but principles which must be mastered in order to achieve long term prosperity and sustainable worth. To journey from good to great requires a deft combination of discipline, entrepreneurship and holistic vision. The author's emphasis on humanistic balance is somewhat unique in comparison to standard business fare, but it reflects a maturity and consciousness of basic personhood so essential to one's search for meaning. The "how to do it" may be more elusive, but Mr. Collins certainly presents a great deal of practical insight in this regard. This is neither the first, nor the last book to address the notion of excellence . . . but it is one of the best ones.
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Summary: Best of business writing
Review: In my opinion this is one of the best business books written. Most books about success or the elements of effective business are based on someone's opinion - a business school PhD, a successful (or perhaps not so) CEO, or some other guru writes about his personal views of what makes a successful business. Collins' much more powerful approach was to use quantitative data to identify truly successful companies, then analyze them with a team of students to identify their common characteristics. Not only is the approach sound, the results are absolutely inspiring. The team's findings about the importance of good leadership, of choosing the right people, of staying focused on a simple message, resonate deeply. I'm not the most experienced businessperson in the world, but everything I've seen of American business (and government) enterprises suggests Collins is dead on. Adoption of the principles he's recognized will create successful companies--and, as importantly, terrific employers. This is a must-read.
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Summary: Powerful Must Read for Senior Management
Review: What a great book! I couldn't put it down and have suggested it to our CEO and President. Insightful, surprising results, based on sound research. This is a must read for companies focused on excellence and growth.
Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: I borrowed this from my public library thinking I'd take a look even though I'd read so much about it already including the Executive Summary! (I noticed upon returning the book that our library director immediately checked it out.) This book is well worth the complete read and referring back to; I copied at least a half dozen pages for future reference. Each chapter ends with its summary points and I really enjoyed the vignettes throughout. There are pages of real life business experiences that prove the good to great theory; this engaging consolidation of 5 years of research holds many lessons for those willing to learn.
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Summary: Interesting findings!
Review: This sequel to Collins and Jerry Porras's Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (3rd ed., 2000) is the result of a five-year, team-based research effort that examined the critical factors that distinguish good companies from truly great companies. Employing a rigorous, multifaceted methodology, the author identified 11 companies that follow a basic pattern: 15-year cumulative stock returns at or below the general stock market, punctuated by a transition point, then cumulative returns at least three times the market over the next 15 years. Based on his extensive research, Collins presents a three factor, six-element model to identify characteristic traits of the truly great companies: disciplined people, disciplined thought, and disciplined action. He addresses a seventh notion--the flywheel--as the overarching factor that catapults a company from just good to truly great. The author concludes by comparing and analyzing the concepts in Built to Last with those presented in this current volume. Extensive appendixes and notes provide supplemental documentation supporting Collins's research-based thesis. Faculty and upper-division undergraduate and graduate students will find this work a useful adjunct to business strategy courses.
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Summary: Interesting findings
Review: A huge and important research that provides interesting findings of great companies that applied common sense but yet difficult to implement concepts, made possible due to the participation of level 5 leadership. All concepts mentioned in the book can be used very well in turnaround a mediocre business or to enhance one, but not necessarily will work the same way for every company without a culture of discipline. I found that applying discipline to whatever one does is the key message of this book. Although I consider that forcing metaphors to work on a methodology was too much.
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Summary: Beyond hero worship
Review: Possibly the best business book I've ever read, or at least the best that wasn't a journalistic narrative or a history. Most business "advice" books really just amount to hero worship (how to be like Jack Welch, or whoever), and Good to Great is a strong antidote to all that rot. While we gravitate toward big personalities and dramatic stories, the real roots of greatness like elsewhere -- the CEO names in Good to Great won't be familiar to most readers, but their successes are real, and Collins and his team do a nice job of extracting meaning from the data they've assembled. One among many surprising conclusions is that charismatic leaders might actually be a *detriment* to their firms. Then again, after Ebbers, Skilling, and others, maybe we won't find that news so surprising any more... Anyway, the book is clearly written and thoughtfully organized, and well worth reading if you're interested, for whatever reason, in what makes some companies thrive and others fail. A wise book.
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