In the 1980s, the prosperity of the Japanese economy caused panic to Americans. "Dusk of the super big country", "The United States is a second", "Japan's first", "Japan can say that" becomes a hot topic at the time. The US business community and management science believes that Japan's strong sign is a large number of giant enterprises in Japan. Therefore, in the United States, it is necessary to cultivate a large number of "excellence". .
In 1982, McKinsey's consultant Tom Peters and Watman published a book of "In Search Forexcellence", eight prescriptions were issued to a company that hoped to take advantage. Jim Collins, who was also working in McKinsey, also partially participated in the writing of this book. The publication of the book coincides with the top three consecutive years of "New York Times" bestseller. Americans have seen hope and direction from "Pursuit of Excellence". In the past 80s, commercial heroism and perfection, and aesthetic featuring the United States's business community.
However, reality gave Tom Peters a big joke. In the early 1990s, many companies called "Excellence", many seems to be cucted. These companies either close closes (such as Wang Anshi), or there is no vitality (such as a national semiconductor company), and some even if there is no closed closure, it has reached the edge of the closed, just due to major changes and restructuring, it will be returned (such as IBM). Moreover, after entering the 1990s, the Japanese economy decades, those Japanese companies such as the tiger, gradually become "sick cat."
In 1992, Tom Peters changed in its "liberation management" book: there is no "excellent" company. He no longer believes that "the pursuit of excellence" is the only way to grow up, starting to turn the vision to those who are not very famous but energetic.
Since 1989, Jim Collins also began to reflect "Excellence" myth: Why some "excellent" companies will go to decline after short glory, and other companies can grow up? He and his research team used five years to investigate research, published a book of "Biye Changqing" in 1994.
In a certain sense, "Biye Changqing" is a "pursuit of excellence" upgrades. It is still talking about those excellence companies, but "pursuing excellence" is a forward look ("pursuit"), and "basic evergreen" is backward - retrospective "seed" of excellence companies - Enterprise The "company gene" that was given to the establishment.
"Based on Changqing" has also been sought after. More than 40 editions were printed within two years, and they were also translated into 17 kinds of foreign languages. In 1996, when Collins wrote a new preamble for this book, he met his colleague in McKinsey. This colleague looked at the "base evergreen" posted on the table, not to say four words: "There is useless!" In his view, the success of these companies discussed in the book is a total Knowing, Collins just gave a reason to explain after the event - anyway, it was successful, how to explain it.
The words of this colleague have greatly touched Collins. He decided to use a five-year time to write a book that better express his thoughts. First, it is a useful book, rather than just telling the success story, appreciating the book is greater than the practical book; second, these companies are also "basic elderly" rather than the company; third, it will be pure Pay attention to the growth of the company.
Here, we tried to help readers understand this contemporary classic about enterprises. Great / Greatness
Strictly speaking, Collins said "Great" and "Good" can't find a peerful Chinese. Both words have a strong spoken color, the difference between the two can be seen from the two sentences: IT's a good idea (this is a good idea) and it's a greatidea (this idea is great) ). In Collins, Good is a neutral word, even a little bit of meaning. He said, "Good is the enemy of Great". "Good" contains "still", "live", "not dead", "mediocre", "do not think,", "self-feeling is good", and Great is given "unwilling to mediocre" "Silently, no performance," "The real people do not reveal", "sulking hair big fortune" is meant.
Rock Climbing
"From excellent to excellence" did not speculate on "climbing", but "rock climbing" is an important lattelet and background language of this book. This is directly related to Collins' personal experience. Collins is a well-known climbing player in the United States. During this process, any tricks and suit are useless, truly need to be courage, tenacity and calm.
Many people think that a company that has become "great", must be a quicker and a strange man, have a strange trick, and the growth of the company will win. But Collins' research team found that drama is not from drama processes, those companies that achieve "outstanding to excellence", there is no "miraculous moment" without exception. He believes that the change is a surgery, it is better to have a growing process. It is not a bunch of dazzling lightning or an enlightenment from God, but a continuous cultivation of the temporary repair.
Imagine the process of rock climbing: a rock climber climbs a cliff top along the steep rock wall, which can be said to be a "miracle", but in the process of creating this "miracle", there is no unobstructed. Every moment is decisive - a step in caution will be full of disasters, it is not a decisive - successfully climbing step, and does not guarantee the next step, not guarantee the entire rock climbing. success.
The means of "miraculous moments" and "a grasp" means are the common mentality of leaders and managers of growth companies. Collins's book has proved that "almost all the current prescriptions on how to realize the company's large-scale changes are just myth."
Flywheel Effect
To understand the difficult journey of "from excellent to excellence", Collins makes readers to think about 30 meters in diameter, 3 meters thick, and weigh iron wheels with approximately 26 tons. Collins said, "This flywheel is your company" - a company with a variety of intensive, fancy and performance "still".
Your task is to let this heavy wheel run. You try your best, the wheel is slightly moved, push it, and moved slightly. In the face of this push, take a slight movement and even the wireless wheel, you are very easy to despair - you call this desperate "facing reality." However, the characteristics of the leaders who realized "from excellent to excellence" are the characteristics of being given up. At the same time, he will never fantastically. He continued to push it a little, it can't get achieved, one lap, two laps ... The bystander thinks he is doing unusual work, but he gradually felt that the wheel has a little inertia and "Momentum). He continues to push ... one hundred laps, two hundred laps. Suddenly at some point, others were also surprised to find that the speed of the wheel was significantly increased. The weight of the wheel itself is converted into a self-thrust, and finally the speed is turned.
Doom Loop
"Wilderness Circulation" is the opposite side of the flywheel effect. Some companies also want to change the status quo, but they don't believe in sustained, effective results are acceleration (not obvious after a long time after the start, until the last time suddenly significant) "flywheel effect". They are soaked, they like the vast actions - please have a famous consulting company to open a prescription, and come to the media to have a huge powerful CEO, release the news on the media ...
These companies have been forgotten how to convert huge gravity into self-driven inertia and impulse, each major movement is hoped, but every big movement is minimal. "They are not 'turn flywheel', but caught in 'miscepration cycle": disappointing results lead to lack of understanding, which in turn leads to a new direction (new leadership, new direction), and new direction leads to inertia And the lack of punching, there is no impressive result. This is a spiral process that has dropped steadily. Those who have experienced the 'misfortune loop', know how it is a spirit of a company. "
Hedgehog concept The Hedgehog Concept
Ancient Greek poet Archilochus said that the future of the future of the world repeatedly mentioned: "The fox thousands of tricks, the hedgehog is endless." The fox is born, always thinks of countless tricks to the enemy, but it is always A vulnerable animal; the hedgehog seems to be nothing, but with its unique defense, any animal will not have it. Collins believes that companies and entrepreneurs also have fox types and hedges. Fox-type companies are always a lot of business, always thinking about "what should be doing", and hedgehog-like companies always focus on their own business, for them, "what to do" and "don't do what "The problem is equally important. Collins found that "from excellent to excellence" is a hedgehog, and the leaders of the company always find a "hedgehog concept" with a long and endless ". They often ask three questions: First, what are our best? And what is our most good at? What is the economic indicators that drive our economic engine driving (how much profit, how big is the cash flow)? What is our core staff? To answer these three questions as clearly, you will form a "hedgehog concept" on your business direction. Such concepts may make your company stand out.
"Who" - not "Where" (Where)
Only "hedgehog concept" is not enough, there is no suitable person, and the concept of good hedgehog cannot be implemented. Conversely, if your team is just some ideas, people who do nothing to do (do everything) or keen on the surface articles, you can't completely answer the three key questions, so you can't get it. A hedgehog concept. Collins survey found that "From Excellent to Excellence" company leaders, before starting to make companies, not from "where", but start from "Who". He compared the company to a bus and compared the business leader as a bus driver. The leader first cares about where, but "from getting the right people getting on the bus, get the inappropriate person getting off, let the appropriate people sit in the proper position", "first is people, then the direction is the direction "
Level Leadership (Level 5 Leadership)
Some said that Collins' work is a special archaeological - let the performance of glory but freshly known companies and company leaders "unearthed". He subverts the myth of Excellence companies and excellence leaders. The five-year meditation study made him a group of "soil" corporate leaders. He found that the leader of the company from excellent to excellence is a group of people who have a very different business in the business media.
Take the CEO Darwin Smith of Jinbai-Clark Company: This is a bleak person. Not good words, sexuality, it seems to have no people. Originally, he was pushed on the location of this half-dead company CEO. Let him be the reason for the CEO: Anyway, the company is over, who is the same as CEO, this familiar guy may be more than others to work after bankruptcy. At that time, he had a cancer, just like this company. However, he sits in this position is 21 years. He himself has a miraculous, most importantly, the company who is "cancer" also has completed the "outstanding to excellence" and became "the world's premier paper-based consumption. Product company, there are six categories in the 8 products to defeat Procter & Gamble, and directly have the opponent SCOTTPAPER I have overwhelmed myself. For its shareholders, the return rate of Kimberly-Clark stock under Darwin Smith is the market. 4 times, its performance easily exceeded a large company like Coca-Cola, General Electric, HP and 3M. "Different from those" excellent ", the famous business leaders, they have no name, no personal charm," encountered grades When you look at the window, you can see the mirror when you encounter problems. When making decisions, "Excellence" CEOs often intentionally intentionally use the media and the public as the reference system, pointing to individual achievements and images, and the fifth level leaders should be ascended with the media and the public, always in the shareholders and customers. The interest is pointing. Collins believes that this type of leadership is the leadership of the highest level ("fifth"). It is characterized by personal humility and professional will, the timidity of the appearance and the hidden ambition to form a huge contrast - "humble and persistent, shameless and fearless". Only they can lead the company to complete the transformation of "excellent to excellence", they are not "excellent" leaders, but "great" leaders.
