“Good is the enemy of great.” That is a powerful theory put forth by the author, Jim Collins, in Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t. A simple idea, it’s easy to dismiss. But clearly companies that don’t heed the warning, don’t last very long.

But there is more to Good to Great that just that. Collins presents an illustration of a flywheel that begins to spin, slowly at first, then building on momentum, reaching a given and consistent speed. The illustration and the book, shows the progression from “build-up to breakthrough” with Collins explaining each step and offering vivid examples of companies – some that “get” it, and some that don’t.

Good to Great - copyright Jim Collins

A main idea of the book is that it is all about the people on board, beginning with a virtually ego-less “Level 5 Leader”, which Collins defines as “an individual who blends extreme personal humility with intense professional will.” An example of such a leader is Abraham Lincoln. My first thought was, well, I could agree on Lincoln, but that was 150 years ago, today it seems like there is nothing but egos in the business world. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there actually are a few of these Level 5′s around today, quietly doing a great job and building great companies. Collins offers some excellent examples.

Even though I am not a CEO or upper level executive, or even on that track, I found many excellent concepts in the book that got me thinking about my own career. One that provoke a profound amount of consideration for me was the “Hedgehog Concept.”

A hedghog simplifies the world into a single organizing idea or basic principle. The idea being that the essence of profound insight is simplicity. Many of us over complicate life and work and without a hedgehog’s point of view, we become scattered instead of focused and soon find ourselves in positions we, well frankly, never thought we’d find ourselves in.

Collins puts forth that The Hedgehog Concept is “not a goal to be the best, not a plan to be the best, but an understanding of what you can be the best at.” He goes on to say that, “you can have competence at something, but not necessarily the potential to be the best in the world at it.”

This particular idea of the book really gave me pause. It is intensly simple yet life-altering. In order to reach this point however, there may be some not-so-pleasant housekeeping to be done – both in your personal life and in your company. The toughest one perhaps is confronting the brutal facts of your current reality.

Collins leaves us with this thought, “If you have to ask the question, ‘Why should we try to create greatness? Isn’t success enough?’, then you’re probably in the wrong line of work. Get involved in something that you care so much about that you want to make it the greatest it can possibly be, not because of what you will get, but just because it can be done.”

I highly recommend this book to any individual or company that truly wants to make that leap, from Good to Great.

Click here to purchase: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t