Management Guidance

Built to Last, a book written by Jim Collins and Jerry I.Porras on October 26, 1994. The book outlines the results of a six-year research project into what makes enduring great companies. Two primary objectives for the authors’ research were: “to identify underlying characteristics are common to highly visionary companies” and “to effectively communicate findings so they can influence management.” The research conducted by Collins and Porras and articulated in Built to Last is presented with examples based on stories and validated by research data. Collins and Porras listed eighteen companies they identified as ‘visionary.’ They defined a visionary company as one that is a premier institution in its industry, is widely admired by knowledgeable businesspeople, made an imprint on the world, had multiple generations of Chief executive officers (CEOs), had multiple product/service life cycles, and was founded before 1950. The list of visionary companies was determined based on the results of a survey of 1,000 CEOs. The authors ensured representation across all industries and various sized organizations by sampling from Fortune 500 industrial companies, Fortune 500 service companies, Inc. 500 private companies and Inc. 100 public companies. The survey yielded a 23% response rate with 3.2 companies listed per response. An important caveat the authors express is the fact that through their research, they can claim a correlation, not a causal link between their findings and the success of companies.

The Leadership Challenge is about how leaders mobilize others to want to get extraordinary things done. It's about the practices leaders use to transform values into actions, visions into realities, obstacles into innovations, separateness into solidarity, and risks into rewards. It is about a climate in which people turn challenging opportunities into remarkable successes.
In today's world, there are countless opportunities to make a difference. In addition, more than ever there is a need for people of all ages, from all backgrounds, with all types of life experience to seize those opportunities that lead to greatness. More than ever, there is a need for leaders to inspire us to dream, to participate, and to persevere. The Leadership Challenge offers everyone the chance to do just that – to take the initiative and make a difference.

The Leadership Challenge has its origins in a research project Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner began in 1983. They wanted to know what people did when they were at their "personal best" in leading others. They started with the assumption, however, that they did not have to interview and survey star performers in excellent companies to discover best practices. They assumed that by asking ordinary people to describe extraordinary experiences, they would find patterns of success. They were right.
After some preliminary research, Kouzes and Posner devised a personal-best leadership survey consisting of thirty-eight open-ended questions such as these:
Who initiated the project?
How were you prepared for this experience?
What special techniques and strategies did you use to get other people involved in the project?
What did you learn about leadership from this experience?

Good To Great, challenges you with this fundamental question - Why Some Companies Make the leap… and others do not? This carefully researched and well-written book disproves of the current management type makes a good reference for the CEO or Senior Management of any organizations. The author, Jim Collin and his research team have been tackling one of the biggest questions business has to offer.
It describes how companies transition from being average companies to great companies and how companies can fail to make the transition. "Greatness" is defined as financial performance several multiples had better than the market average over a sustained period. Collins finds the main factor for achieving the transition to be a narrow focusing of the company’s resources on their field of competence.