Good to Great – Chapter 1: Good is the Enemy of Great

Posted on July 1st, 2008 by Brian Sparks.
Categories: Good to Great.

“Good is the enemy of great.
“And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great” (page 1).

Nine surprises in great companies

  1. Larger-than-life, celebrity leaders who ride in from the outside are negatively correlated with taking a company from good to great. Ten of eleven good-to-great CEOs came from the inside the company.
  2. We found no systematic pattern linking specific forms of executive compensation to the process of going from good to great. The idea that the structure of executive compensation is a key driver in corporate performance is simply not supported by the data.
  3. There is no evidence that the good-to-great companies spent more time on long-ranger strategic planning than the comparison companies.
  4. The good-to-great companies did not focus principally on what to do to become great; they focused equally on whatnot to do and what to stop doing.
  5. The good-to-great companies paid scant attention to managing change, motivating people, or creating alignment. Under the right conditions, the problems of commitment, alignment, motivation, and change largely melt away.
  6. Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice. (page 10-11).

Framework of concepts

  1. Level 5 leadership. We were surprised, shocked really, to discover the type of leadership required for turning a good company into a great one…Self-effacing, quiet, reserved, even shy-these leaders are a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.
  2. First Who…Then What. We expected that good-to-great leders would begin by setting a new vision and strategy. We found instead that they first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats-and then they figured out where to drive it. 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. [We have deacons who wouldn't know how to serve if it sat in their lap and called them mommy.]
  3. Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith). 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.
  4. The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles).
  5. A Culture of Discipline. When you have disciplined people, you don’t need hierarchy. When you have disciplined thought, you don’t need bureaucracy. When you have disciplined action, you don’t need excessive controls.
  6. Technology Accelerators. (page 12-13).

“Those who launch revolutions, dramatic change programs, and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap from good to great. No matter how dramatic the end result, the good-to-great transformations never happened in one fell swoop. There was no ingle defining action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no solitary lucky break, no miracle moment. Rather, the process resembled relentlessly pushing a gieant heavy flywheel in one direction, turn upon turn, building momentum until a point of breakthrough, and beyond” (page 14).

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Spiritual Leadership – Chapter 1: An Honorable Ambition

Posted on July 1st, 2008 by Brian Sparks.
Categories: Spiritual Leadership.

“To aspire to leadership in an honorable ambition” (I Timothy 3:1, page 11).
“Should you then seek great thins for yourself? Seek them not” (Jeremiah 45:5, page 11).

“Has not ambition cause the downfall of nuerous otherwise great leaders in the church, people who fell victim to ‘the last infirmity of noble minds’?” (page 11).

“When our ambition carries out a burning desire to be effective in the service of God – to realize God’s highest potential for our lives-we can keep both of these verses in mind and hold them in healthy tension [refer to first two verses]” (page 12).

“Rewards for the work of leading the church were hardship, contempt, rejection, and even death. The leader was first to draw fire in persecution, first in line to suffer” (page 12).

“Phonies would have little heart for such a difficult assignment. Under the dangerous circumstances taht prevailed in the first century, even stout-hearted Christians needed encouragement and incentive to lead. And so Paul called leadership an ‘honorable ambition’” (page 12).

“Paul urges us to the work of leading within the church, the most important work in the world. When our motives are right, this work pays eternal dividends. In Paul’s day, only a deep love for Christ and genuine concern for the church could motivate people to lead. But in many cultures today where Christian leadership carries prestige and privilege, people aspire to leadership for reasons quite unworthy and self-seeking” (page 12).

“Desiring to excel is not a sin. It is motivation that determines ambition’s character. Our Lord never taught against the urge to high achievement, but He did expose and condemn unworthy motivation” (page 13).

“Ambition which centers on the glory of God and welfare of the church is a mighty force for good” (page 13).

“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all” (Mark 10: 44).

“True greatness, true leadership, is found in giving yourself in service to others, not in coaxing or inducing others to serve you. True service is never without cost. Often it comes with a bitter cup of challenges and a painful baptism of suffering. For genuine godly leadership weighs carefully Jesus’ question: ‘Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?’ (Mark 10:38b).

“The final estimate of men shows that history cares not an iota for the rank or title a man has borne, or the office he has held, but only a quality of his deeds and the character of his mind and heart” (Samuel Brengle, page 14).

Because we children of Adam want to become great,
He became small.
Because we will not stoop,
He humbled Himself.
Because we want to rule,
He came to serve. (page 14)

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