BOOK FROM PERFORMANCE TO EXCELLENCE

Description

Why do some companies, displaying rather average performances, suddenly take off to join the leading pack? what differentiates them from their competitors? and can we extend to others the principles from which they were inspired? For five years, Jim Collins and his team of researchers tackled this vast question to uncover the secret of conversion to excellence. Eleven companies, selected for their stock market performance well above that of their sector, were compared to their competitors. The conclusions that emerge are astonishing: far from flamboyant strategies, carried out with great emphasis on communication, the transition to excellence took place discreetly, without a prior strategy, under the leadership of leaders with a modest profile. Rather than imposing their vision, they sought the best collaborators. Then they encouraged an intense and permanent debate within the company. What paid? the choice of a simple concept guiding the company’s activity, the unfailing determination of the managers to implement it, an iron discipline first applied at the top of the hierarchy. Disturbs ? certainly, but welcome in a context where certain leaders seem to have lost their minds… “what makes the difference is the amount of work that Collins imposes on himself to reach his conclusions which are all the more justified in producing such unexpected results.