About This Book
Out of 1,400 companies studied over five years, only 11 had truly transformed from mediocre to great—and Collins found out why.
Jim Collins, whose previous work Built to Last (co-authored with Jerry Porras) spent five years on business bestseller lists, turned next to a harder question: can ordinary companies become extraordinary? His research team combed through every company to appear on the Fortune 500 since 1965, ultimately isolating 11 that achieved sustained, exceptional performance after years of middling results. The patterns they uncovered—around leadership, culture and strategic focus—challenge nearly every assumption about what drives corporate transformation.
Good to Great is essential reading for leaders who have inherited average organizations or feel stuck in cycles of incremental progress. Its findings are grounded in rigorous data rather than intuition, making it as useful for skeptics as for believers.