Great by Choice

By: Jim Collins   

Pages: 304

Business

My recommendation: 10 / 10

Date read: Before 2013

Brief review: Jim Collins does it again with another masterpiece. A result of extensive research on world’s greatest companies, the book gives an insight on how some companies chose their way to greatness. In one the the chapters, Some of the key findings of the research were (1) Great companies took less risk than the comparison companies and yet produced vastly superior results. (2) Luck is not the reason for success. Comparison companies enjoyed better luck than great companies but they failed because they squandered it. (3) Great companies developed specific and concrete practices which could endure for decades. They changed them by an average of just 15% as compared to 60% by comparison companies. (4) Great companies were not visionary. They were empiricists. To quote one example from the book, Intel succeeded not because of innovation or creativity but discipline. (5) To achieve great results it is not necessary to make fast and radical changes simply because the world is changing fast. This is a must read book. Brilliant examples and to the point. Another great works by Jim Collins are "Good to Great" and "Built to Last" which also I would recommend.