Watch your business take off
aDo you lie awake at night wondering how your business can make that final leap from a good company to a GREAT one? What does it take? Luck? A new splashy product or service? Being at the right place at the right time? A super leader?
The question plagued Jim Collins, author of “Built to Last” for years. He assembled a research team to find the answers; “Good to Great” is the result.
As one would expect a great company needs an outstanding leader, someone that Collins calls a Level 5. Level 5 leaders’ ambition is directed toward the institution, not towards themselves. They stick with what they understand and let their abilities, not their egos, determine what they attempt.
Collins and his team identified companies that made the leap from good to great and sustained that status for at least fifteen years. He also contrasted the good-to-great companies with others that didn’t make it and analyzed the reasons why. Check out his findings in “Good to Great.”
Hand in hand with Collins’ book is “First, Break all the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers do Differently” by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. Buckingham and Coffman’s managers focus on finding the right fit for employees, some place where they can use their talents to the fullest; they also stress the desired result, not the steps to get there. It’s all about nurturing the employee. The language is straightforward and direct, not couched in theoretical jargon.
How to hire the right people for the right job? Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan address the question and provide pointers in “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done.” Like the two books mentioned above Bossidy and Charan stress the importance of the leader being intrinsically involved in the company and personally selecting the right people. They maintain that hiring and appraising the right people is too important a job to leave to anyone else.
In “Don’t Hire Anyone Without Me!” Carol Quinn shows employers how to avoid common pitfalls of hiring like basing your selection only on the skills of the person. Attitude and ability to be trained are very important traits of potential employees.
Check out these and other management books at the library and watch your business take off.