2. Good is the
enemy of
great
Level 5
leadership
First who
then what
Confront the
brutal facts
The
hedgehog
concept
A culture of
discipline
Technology
accelerators
The flywheel
and the doom
loop
3. The good to great companies did not focus
principally on what to do to become great; they
focused equally on what not to do and what to stop
doing.
4. Highly capable individual
Contributing team member
Competent manager
Effective leader
Level 5 executive
5. Personal humility
Demonstrates a compelling
modesty, shunning public
adulation; never boastful.
Acts with quiet, calm
determination; relies principally
on inspired standards, not
inspiring charisma, to motivate.
Channels ambition into the
company, not the self; sets up
successors for even greater
success in the next generation.
Looks out the window, not in the
mirror, to apportion credit for
the success of the company—to
other people, external factors,
and good luck.
Creates superb results, a clear
catalyst in the transition from
good to great.
Demonstrates an unwavering
resolve to do whatever must
be done to produce the best
long-term results, no matter
how difficult.
Sets the standard of building
an enduring great company;
will settle for nothing less.
Looks in the mirror, not out
the window, to apportion
responsibility for poor results,
never blaming other people,
external factors, or bad luck.
Professional will
6. The right people don’t need to be tightly managed
or fired up.
Great vision without great people is irrelevant.”
7. When in doubt don’t hire, keep looking.
When you know you need to make a people
change, act.
Put your best people on your biggest
opportunities, not on your biggest problems.
8. “You absolutely cannot make a series of good decisions
without first confronting the brutal facts.”
9. Lead with questions, not answers.
Engage in dialogue and debate, not coercion.
Conduct autopsies, without blame.
Build “red flag” mechanisms.
10. Retain faith that you
will prevail in the end,
regardless of the
difficulties.
AND at the same time
confront the most
brutal facts of your
current reality,
whatever they might
be.
11. “Precisely, the Hedgehog concept is a simple, crystalline
concept that flows from deep understanding about the
intersection of the three circles.”
12. What are you the best in the world at?
What drives your economic engine?
What are you deeply passionate about?
13. Concept is not a goal to be the best, a strategy to be
the best, an intention to be the best, a plan to be
the best. It is an understanding of what you can be
the best at.
14. How are we going to finance what we are going to do?
What is our single denominator?
Cash flow per local church offerings.
We create healthy churches, we create healthy cash flow.
People and money flow to VISION!
15. “We should only do those things that we can get
passionate about.”
16. 1. Build a culture around the idea of freedom and
responsibility, within a framework.
2. Fill the culture with self-disciplined people who are willing
to go to extreme lengths to fulfill their responsibilities.
3. Don’t confuse a culture of discipline with a tyrannical
disciplinarian system.
4. Create a “Stop doing list” and systematically unplug
anything extraneous.
17. Central point is, when used right, technology becomes an accelerator of
momentum, not a creator of it.
Avoid technology fads and bandwagons, become pioneers in the application of
carefully selected technologies.
Respond to technology change with thoughtfulness and creativity, driven by
compulsion to turn unrealized potential into results.
“Crawl, Walk, Run” can be a very effective approach even during times of rapid
and radical technological change
18. “Step by step, action by action, decision by decision, turn
by turn of the flywheel – that adds up to sustained and
spectacular results.”
19. Misguided use of acquisitions—making deals for the sake
of making deals.
“When the going gets tough, we go shopping!”
G2G companies did acquisitions after the Hedgehog Concept and
after the flywheel had significant momentum.
Acquisitions are accelerators not creators of flywheel momentum.
Leaders who stop the flywheel—leaders who step in, stop
an already spinning flywheel, and throw the organization
in entirely different direction.
20. Good-to-great transformations never happened in
one fell swoop
With persistent pushing . . .
In a consistent direction . . .
Over a long period of time
21. Good-to-great companies think differently
Good-to-great companies only use an idea if it fits
within their Hedgehog Concept and then become a
pioneer in the application of that idea
Idea is only an accelerator of momentum, not a creator
of momentum