Last week, I finished reading a book by Jim Collins, the author of Build to Last, a once very highly acclaimed business book where he discussed how companies managed to build successful companies. It was a good read, with a good insight into some companies such as 3M or Nordstrom.
His new opus, Good to Great, is written in the same fashion. He compares two sets of companies (one sample vs. another sample) after defining very harsh criteria, and tries to identify common characteristics to build an empirical theory. What makes a great company (defined as producing multiple returns above market average for more than 15 years). It's a rather easy read, with many examples, although I felt a bit frustrated: his research spanned over 5 years; he was helped by a dozen research assistants, compiled thousands of documents, interviewed hundreds of executives, and yet, there is almost no data transcribed in the book, just a plain explanation of their conclusions. Good conclusions, but simple conclusions... in a nutshell: be passionate about your work, understand the profound mechanics of how you make money, and aim to become the best in the world at what you do.
OK...
That was not a spoiler, but a rather good summary of it all. Give it a try, and let me know what you thought about it.
