ejthompson2

In Search of Greatness

Ever since the beginning of time, people have been managing other people. Throughout history, people have tried different strategies to manage people efficiently and to get the best results from their company. In today’s world, with fierce competition in almost every market, companies are looking for that extra edge to push their company into greatness. So how do companies achieve this status?

The book “In Search of Excellence”, written by Tom Peters & Robert Waterman Jr., published in 1982, explored the reasons that made the leading companies different from the rest of the industry. In the research of these companies, Peters and Waterman found that there were eight underlying themes of companies that they identified as excellent. These themes focused on people, both customers and employees, actions, and simplicity. Most of these themes seem to be common sense, but many companies seem not to utilize them.

There are several factors in this book that still apply to the 21st Century. It is important to have a simple organizational structure to minimize bureaucratic tendencies, this allows for maximum response within the organization. After you have a solid structure, it is then important focus on customer relations. The book shows that all great companies were customer driven. One point in the book was that the key to success was not trying to focus on gaining new customers, but retain existing customers. The excellent companies not only offered great quality in their work, but also offered superior customer service. By staying close to your customers, you learn what is important to your market and can then offer what they want.

Theme six in the book showed that companies need to stick with what they are best at. It isn’t good for companies to try to get into other markets if they are not strong in that market. Instead, the company should try to focus on the part that they are best at and make it better. It is important to foster innovation and to nurture champions within the company. Companies like 3M require their employees to work a certain percentage of their time on their own ideas to promote innovation.

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“Good to Great”, was written by Jim Collins, published in 2001, and also tried to look at what set “Great” companies apart from the rest of the industry. This book is considered by many to replace “In Search of Excellence”, as the premiere management book. “Good to Great” seemed to take some of the principles of “In Search of Excellence” and change them a little to apply more to today’s economy. Collins and his team came up with eight steps of how to turn a “good” company into a truly “great” company. It shows how Level 5 leadership is required to push a company into greatness. Level 5 leaders are quite different from what most companies look for; Level 5 leaders are modest, humble, willful, and fearless. They are the type of people who put others ahead of themselves, and are willing to stick through things to make it right.

Another crucial part was to have the right people in the right place. The old saying “People are your most important asset” was wrong; it’s having the right people. Collins shows that great companies did not first decide what to do, but looked for the right people to have. It is important to make sure that you got the wrong people off the bus and the right people on the bus. After you have all the right people on the bus, and in the right seats, then you can decide where to go.

Throughout “Good to Great” as well as “In Search of Excellence”, it emphasizes over and over that companies are not made into great companies by a singular act, decision, lucky break or technological breakthrough; instead, it is only through several pushes in the right direction that can cause breakthrough into greatness. Collins adeptly compared it to a giant flywheel, where it would take turn after turn to build up momentum until a point where breakthrough happens.

Comparing the two books, “In Search of Excellence”, and “Good to Great”, I found several similarities in both concepts and ideas. Since I am interested in someday being a head executive of a Fortune 100 company, I found both of these books very useful. I will continuously strive to become a Level 5 leader throughout my career and to make sure that I have the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus. Also the fact that it takes a continuous effort, over a long period of time to produce something great will help guide me in making decisions for the future. And while I love technology, I need to make sure that every piece fits into my Hedgehog Concept and to not use technology as a creator of momentum, but an accelerator of it.