"GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF
GREAT"
GREAT"
Non-fiction reading has never been something I tend to do or like, but NOW is the time to start. It had never crossed my m i n d how much knowledge is gained from these type of books, until Mindset. Thousands of questions were racing through my mind when starting "From Good to Great", but there was one that just wouldn't leave my head:
"How does something good become something
GREAT ?" I found out about many companies that throughout a long process, took a huge LEAP and went from being good to great. Most of them "didn't focus principally on what to do to become great; they focused equally on what not to do and what to stop doing". This thought was new to me; I would always be one to just think about all the things I could DO to improve my work, rather than focus on what I was doing wrong. Groupwork was also what most good-to-great companies excelled in. An observation Jim Collins made that really stuck to me was that all good-to-great leaders didn't begin by "setting a new vision and strategy". Instead he realized that they would "first get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats--and then they would figure out where to drive it". I found this metaphor remarkable because it is referring to something seen so often in the real world. When working in groups, people tend to set their goal before choosing who to ride the bus with, when they should really be doing it the other way a r o u n d . The good-to-great companies would start with good results and outcomes, and end up with great ones. The main question is, as Jim Collins would like to put it: |
WHAT'S INSIDE THE BLACK BOX?
"Each step along the way was like installing another lightbulb to shed light on the inner workings of the good to great process"
Through our class project, we had to meet the expectations of having a product related to the question: why do organizations exist? The entire class had remained with so much fascination and curiosity about reading the first chapter of this book, that we were all determined for the project to relate in some way to the good-to-great concept.
After discussing the components of the project, I realized that I had never gained so much knowledge from a conversation with my peers before, and it felt amazing. The simple fact that being in an active group discussion alongside people with common interests can make you learn more, felt amazing. Through conversation, we went from having 5 different project ideas, to having ONE final idea which was agreed to unanimouslly . While we work on this project and learn about peruvian companies that are transitioning from good to great, I am willing to see our group, IA17, come outside of the black box .
After discussing the components of the project, I realized that I had never gained so much knowledge from a conversation with my peers before, and it felt amazing. The simple fact that being in an active group discussion alongside people with common interests can make you learn more, felt amazing. Through conversation, we went from having 5 different project ideas, to having ONE final idea which was agreed to unanimouslly . While we work on this project and learn about peruvian companies that are transitioning from good to great, I am willing to see our group, IA17, come outside of the black box .