05 Reflection: Entrepreneurial Journal

 This week's lessons were inspirational. I also had the opportunity to interview my mentor and get deeper into her thoughts and personal life. That experience was so rewarding; it reminds me that successful people are ordinary people too, even though they have a lot of money, they are normal. One of my favorite lectures from this week is "Good to Great". Why Some Companies Make the Leap . . . and Others Don't by Jim Collins. This guide explored the defining management study of the nineties. It showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning. You can see a summary of the Good to Great process in the diagram below. If we had to describe the book's key concept in a single word, that word would be discipline. Discipline. Discipline. Discipline.

• Disciplined people: means getting the right people and keeping them focused on excellence.

• Disciplined thought: means being honest about the facts and avoid getting sidetracked.

• Disciplined action: means understanding what is essential to achieve and what isn't.

Good is the Enemy of Great. The book is about being great, not merely good. Good is the enemy of great. Many people and companies settle for good because it's easier. Many companies do not even try to be great. They are not striving to be the best in the industry. Opens the door to competitors being the best means there is absolutely no room for mediocre thinking. It is the same in our lives. Few people lead extraordinary lives because they are happy with living a good experience.

Think of this as a timeline to be followed:

The First Step is: To have A 'Level 5 Leader.'

- A self-effacing leader. A humble leader with a strong drive and indefatigable will for perfection. Someone who puts the company over personal success and never clamors for the limelight.

The Second Step is: First, decide the Who question and then the What Question.

- So have a Level 5 Leader.

- Who then picks a great management team - Collins uses the metaphor of finding the right people for the bus and the right seats for them before deciding where the bus will be heading towards.

The Third Step is: To understand all the basic facts about the situation and the company.

- we have the ideal top management in place.

- In turn, who now brainstorms to figure out a goal/direction for the company after taking into account all the data available, whether good or bad.

Fourth Step is: To implement the 'Hedgehog Concept.'

- they confront all the realities and decide on a direction

- This is based on the company's ability, the passion of the people in it, and the money-making ability of the goal.

- This is called using 'The Hedgehog Concept' and the 'Three Circles Concept'. You have to choose the very intersection of these three circles as your driving direction. You might have a lot of interests/passions, your company might have a lot of money-making options, and you might have a lot of competencies - but the point of intersection of all three should be your ONLY core focus. It is called Hedgehog Concept by contrasting hedgehogs to foxes - foxes are wily and know many things, hedgehogs are wise and one thing well. It is the equivalent to the old proverb of 'jack-of-all-trades and master-of-none'. 

The Fifth Step is: To have Complete Faith and Honesty - Called the 'The Stockdale Paradox.'

- Once you identify your defining goal using the Hedgehog Concept,

- Have complete and unwavering belief and faith in this audaciously ambitious goal (to be the best in the world in the direction/field chosen.

- At the same time maintain complete transparency and exposure to the brutal facts about the environment.

- Believe you will prevail, no matter what. Keeping faith in the goal even in the face of the direst contrary facts.

The Sixth Step is: To instill a Culture of Discipline in the organization.

- Keep working very hard with complete determination and without bravado to overcome those contrary facts and obstacles towards the singe goal/direction arrived at earlier.

Seventh Step and the Overarching Concept is: To Keep turning 'The Flywheel'.

- Use the Culture of Discipline and Build Momentum with these little steps and successes and then take all caution not to upset the Momentum by misguided side steps. - This is the Flywheel concept.

Thus, Great Leadership, Great Understanding of Strengths & Weaknesses, Great Confidence, Great Focus, Great Determination, and Great Discipline consistently applied over 15-30 years for a great company.

The whole story can be summarized in this phrase: "Build up - Breakthrough - Flywheel!"

THE FLYWHEEL CONCEPT

This diagram also summarizes the entire book and can be used as a ready reference.

I love this short lesson from Jim Collin's Good to Great:

"Put your best people on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems."

In conclusion, 'Good to Great' by Jim Collins provides us with a concrete study about finding the right people, understanding what we can best at, believing in ourselves and working hard until success eventually turns up. It is an optimistic and feel-good result that might be simple enough to be true.

Favorite Quotes:

“The purpose of bureaucracy is to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline.”

“Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don't have a great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.”