Good To Great

Have you ever heard of a book called Good To Great? Have you ever read it?

Chances are if you are a small business owner, you will have at the very least heard of it.

In case you haven't heard of it, or you haven't read it yet, I will try to explain what it is about.

Good To Great is a book by Jim Collins (Coauthor of Built To Last). The book compares some of the "Great" companies (based on certain criteria mentioned in the book), and compares them to "Good" companies. They look at what the "Great" companies did and didn't do differently than their comparison companies.

It provides many valuable tips for small businesses, however they are not always clearly stated. In this post I will try to explain how you can use the ideas mentioned in Good To Great to help your small business.

A) Hire Great Employees - Always hire Great employees. Never settle for just Good employees. Especially be careful when you hire managers, and other employees that will have a lot of power within your company. If you are considering hiring an employee, make sure that they are almost entirely perfect. It is much easier to find a different employee to hire, than it is to hire one then fire them, then search for a new one.

B) Discover Your Companies Core Values

Every group of people or individuals has core values that they hold very highly. This is something that they enjoy being part of, something that benefits the world. You must focus your company around this passion.

Every company has a different core value or core values. It doesn't matter what they are, just as long as they exist. Some companies don't care about health, others don't care about the environment, others don't care about their price. However, they all have values that they hold highly and try to fulfill.

C) Become a Great Leader

In Good To Great Jim Collins discovered that at the head of every Great company was a Great leader. They called this leader a "Level 5 Leader". The "Level 5 Leader" has will power, humility, and they care about the company greatly. They often seek the success of the company over their own success. If you own a small business, you should try to create a "Level 5 Leader" personality.

D) Don't Develop a Strict Hierarchy

Usually small businesses don't have to worry about this, however occasionally strict hierarchy does occur. You must make sure that your company doesn't become too bureaucratic, because if it does very little will get accomplished.

E) Be Great Actually be the BEST

You can't become the best at everything, and you may be in the wrong industry. Very few companies try to become the best at something, they usually will settle for just being Good, when they can become Great.

If you aren't the best in your industry in at least some aspect of your product (price, service, quality, etc.) people will just use a different company, and you won't be able to get many sales if any at all. Just find out what your company can do better than any other company, and do that.

I recommend that any body who owns a small business, or is in a high position in a company reads the book Good To Great. This article will make a lot more sense after you read the book.

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