In the realm of business literature, few books have left as profound an impact as "Good to Great" by Jim Collins. Within its pages lies a treasure trove of insights and strategies that have transformed organizations from merely good to truly great. This iconic book has become a beacon for leaders and entrepreneurs, offering a roadmap to excellence and enduring success. As we delve into the world of "Quotes From Good to Great," we embark on a journey through the wisdom distilled from this seminal work, exploring the key principles and inspirational guidance that have shaped countless businesses and leaders.
Quotes From Good To Great (2024)
Explore a compilation of inspirational and transformative quotes from Jim Collins' seminal work, "Good to Great." These profound insights offer a glimpse into the principles and strategies that have guided organizations and leaders toward achieving greatness and enduring success. As you peruse these "Quotes From Good to Great," may you find valuable wisdom to inspire and inform your own journey toward excellence.
"Good is the enemy of great." - Jim Collins
"Great vision without great people is irrelevant." - Jim Collins
"If you have more than three priorities, you don't have any." - Jim Collins
"It's not the destination, it's the journey." - Jim Collins
"The good-to-great companies made a habit of putting their best people on their best opportunities, not their biggest problems." - Jim Collins
"Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice." - Jim Collins
"You can't manufacture passion or 'motivate' people to feel passionate. You can only discover what ignites your passion and the passions of those around you." - Jim Collins
"A culture of discipline is not a principle of business; it is a principle of greatness." - Jim Collins
"The best leaders are those most interested in surrounding themselves with assistants and associates smarter than they are." - Jim Collins
"Confront the brutal facts, but never lose faith." - Jim Collins
"You must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, and at the same time, have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be." - Jim Collins
"The good-to-great leaders never wanted to become larger-than-life heroes. They never aspired to be put on a pedestal or become unreachable icons. They were seemingly ordinary people quietly producing extraordinary results." - Jim Collins
"Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology." - Jim Collins
"In a good-to-great transformation, people are not your most important asset. The right people are." - Jim Collins
"The best companies are not those with the best visions but those with the best people." - Jim Collins
"First who, then what." - Jim Collins
"The purpose of bureaucracy is to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline." - Jim Collins
"The good-to-great companies had no name for their transformation; and absolutely no program. They neither directly compensated people for performance nor linked their evaluations to results." - Jim Collins
"It's amazing how a few people can bring clarity to a complex situation." - Jim Collins
"Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline." - Jim Collins
"The greatest danger in business and life lies not in outright failure but in achieving success without understanding why you were successful in the first place." - Jim Collins
"The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you've made a hiring mistake." - Jim Collins
"People are not your most important asset. The right people are." - Jim Collins
"If you cannot be the best in the world at your core business, then your core business absolutely cannot form the basis of a great company." - Jim Collins
"A culture of discipline is not just about action. It's about getting disciplined people who engage in disciplined thought and who take disciplined action." - Jim Collins
"Good-to-great companies made a habit of putting their best people on their best opportunities, not their biggest problems." - Jim Collins
"When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results." - Jim Collins
"The good-to-great companies understood that doing what you are passionate about and becoming the best in the world at it was more important than growth." - Jim Collins
"In a great company, problems are not solved; they are resolved." - Jim Collins
"Good leaders are modest in speech but exceptional in action." - Jim Collins
"The real question is not why greatness is so rare, but why mediocrity is so common." - Jim Collins
"It's not the change itself that is unnatural; rather, it's the rapid disruption of identity and continuity that is unnatural." - Jim Collins
"Those who build great companies understand that the ultimate throttle on growth for any great company is not markets, or technology, or competition, or products. It is one thing above all others: the ability to get and keep enough of the right people." - Jim Collins
"Great organizations are not great because of their culture. They are great because they get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats." - Jim Collins
"The good-to-great companies never focused principally on what to do to become great; they focused equally on what not to do and what to stop doing." - Jim Collins
"Good to great companies are like hedgehogs - simple and effective, while comparison companies are like foxes - scattered and diffused." - Jim Collins
"Good to great leaders are disciplined, not driven by the compulsion to meet their ego's needs." - Jim Collins
"The best companies know that words and culture are never enough; they must be backed up by action and results." - Jim Collins
"Great leaders are not in it for the ego satisfaction; they are in it for the company's success." - Jim Collins
"If you have the right people on the bus, they will be self-motivated." - Jim Collins
"The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency." - Jim Collins
"It's not a question of what you are passionate about; it's a question of what you can be the best in the world at." - Jim Collins
"Great companies don't try to be everything to everyone." - Jim Collins
"Good is often the enemy of great, and 'that's good enough' is the death knell of excellence." - Jim Collins
"The right people will do the right things and deliver the best results they're capable of, regardless of the incentive system." - Jim Collins
"The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you have made a hiring mistake." - Jim Collins
"The good-to-great companies had no name for their transformation; they didn't make it a slogan or rally the troops around it." - Jim Collins
"A culture of discipline is not just about action. It is also about thought." - Jim Collins
"The only way to deliver to people what they want is to first deliver what they do not want." - Jim Collins
"Great organizations confront the brutal facts of their current reality but maintain an unwavering belief in their ability to prevail." - Jim Collins
"Great leaders are willing to confront brutal facts." - Jim Collins
"The good-to-great companies did not say, 'Okay, folks, let's get passionate about what we do.'" - Jim Collins
"The good-to-great leaders never wanted to become larger-than-life heroes." - Jim Collins
"You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end, which you can never afford to lose, with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be." - Jim Collins
"The best people don't need to be managed; they need to be led." - Jim Collins
"Leadership is not just about the leader; it's about the team and the organization." - Jim Collins
"Great companies don't just set out to make money; they set out to make a difference." - Jim Collins
"The best leaders are humble, ambitious to do big things, and ruthless about performance." - Jim Collins
"Great companies don't hire skilled people and motivate them; they hire already motivated people and inspire them." - Jim Collins
"Good-to-great companies understand that doing what you are passionate about and becoming the best in the world at it is more important than growth." - Jim Collins
"You can't manufacture passion or 'motivate' people to feel passionate." - Jim Collins
"Great leaders don't try to be perfect; they try to be themselves." - Jim Collins
"The good-to-great companies understood that no one discipline is enough." - Jim Collins
"Good is the enemy of great."
"Great vision without great people is irrelevant."
"First who, then what."
"Confront the brutal facts, yet never lose faith."
"Hire for attitude, train for skill."
"A culture of discipline is not a principle of business; it is a principle of greatness."
"To succeed, you must be willing to put your people first."
"The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency."
"The right people are your most important asset."
"The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you've made a hiring mistake."
"Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice."
"If you have more than three priorities, you don't have any."
"Level 5 leaders look out the window to apportion credit to factors outside themselves when things go well."
"It is the combination of creativity and discipline that leads to great results."
"The best leaders are not the ones with the most charisma; they are the ones who can make the people around them better."
"When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results."
"Good to great companies focus on their core competencies and stick to them."
"The real question is not why greatness is so rare, but why mediocrity is so common."
"Enduring great companies don't just stick to their knitting; they redefine it."
"Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge."
"The best companies have a culture of discipline, the worst have a culture of compliance."
"The good-to-great companies made a habit of putting their best people on their best opportunities, not their biggest problems."
"In a truly great company, profits and cash flow become like blood and water to a healthy body: They are absolutely essential for life, but they are not the very point of life."
"Greatness is largely a matter of conscious choice and discipline."
"You can't make a good deal with a bad person."
"Greatness is not a function of circumstance; it is largely a matter of conscious choice."
"Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company."
"Confront the brutal facts, but never lose faith."
"When in doubt, don't hire – keep looking."
"It is better to first get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats."
"The purpose of bureaucracy is to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline."
"Good-to-great companies became like Hedgehogs, simple and efficient, while their comparison companies were like Foxes, scattered and diffused."
"The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants to be done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it."
"Enduring great organizations don't exist without a Level 5 leader."
"The good-to-great leaders never wanted to become larger-than-life heroes."
"If you're lucky enough to be someone's employer, then you have a moral obligation to make sure people look forward to coming to work in the morning."
"The signature of mediocrity is not an unwillingness to change; the signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency."
"To succeed, you must put the right people on the bus and in the right seats."
"Greatness is not a function of circumstance; it is largely a matter of conscious choice and discipline."
"The real question is, do you know what your hedgehog is? And, if you don't know, how do you know you're not a fox instead?"
"The best leaders are those most interested in surrounding themselves with assistants and associates smarter than they are."
"You can accomplish anything in life, provided that you do not mind who gets the credit."
"Leaders who are hedgehogs are more important to their organizations than leaders who are foxes."
"If you have the wrong people, it doesn't matter whether you discover the right direction; you still won't have a great company."
"The old adage 'People are your most important asset' turns out to be wrong. People are not your most important asset. The right people are."
"There is no evidence that the 'good to great' companies had more or better information than the comparison companies."
"To build a successful organization and team, you must get the right people on the bus."
"Leaders of companies that go from good to great start not with 'where' but with 'who.'"
"The key is to recruit, hire, and promote disciplined people who are engaged."
"When we began the research project, we expected to find that the first step in taking a company from good to great would be to set a new direction, a new vision, and a new CEO."
"If you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to motivate and manage people largely goes away."
"You need to get the right people on the bus, get the wrong people off the bus, and then get the right people in the right seats."
"Those who build great companies understand that the ultimate throttle on growth for any great company is not markets, or technology, or competition, or products."
"Good to great companies focus on results, not activity."
"The most important decisions that businesspeople make are not what decisions, but who decisions."
"Good-to-great companies are like maniacally focused hedgehogs that know how to do one thing and do it well."
"The best companies have a culture of discipline and adhere to their principles."
As we reflect on the profound impact of these quotes, we are reminded that greatness is attainable, not through fleeting moments of brilliance, but through consistent effort and unwavering commitment to core values. The journey from good to great is a continuous endeavor fueled by the alignment of purpose, the cultivation of exceptional talent, and the courage to confront harsh realities. Just as Jim Collins' work has shaped the world of business, these "Quotes From Good To Great" can serve as a compass for leaders and organizations, guiding them toward a future marked by enduring success, purposeful innovation, and unwavering commitment to greatness.
