A book for busy executives summarized and reviewed by Soundview Executive Book Summaries

One of the primary tasks in taking a company from good to great is to create a culture wherein people have a tremendous opportunity to be heard and, ultimately, for the truth to be likewise heard. Collins writes that, to create a culture of discipline, successful leaders:

• Ø Build a culture around the idea of freedom and responsibility, within a framework.
• Ø Fill the company's culture with self-disciplined people who are willing to go to extreme lengths to fulfill their responsibilities.
• Ø Do not confuse a culture of discipline with a tyrannical discipline.

Collins also found that good-to-great organizations think differently than mediocre organizations about technology and technological change. They avoid the fads and bandwagons that typically arise from new technology, instead becoming pioneers in the application of carefully selected technologies.

Leader of good-to-great companies respond with thoughtfulness and creativity, driven by a compulsion on turn unrealized potential into results. They act in terms of what they want to create, and how to improve their companies, relative to an absolute standard of excellence.

Good-to-great transformations often look like dramatic, revolutionary events to those observing from the outside, but they feel like organic, cumulative processes to people on the inside. Collins writes that good-to-great companies had no launch event, no tagline, no programmatic feel whatsoever. Collins explains that each company went through a quiet, deliberate process of figuring out what needed to be done to create the best future results, then simply took those steps, one by one over time, until it hit breakthrough moments.

Vocabulary Focus

mediocre (adj)---- average
bandwagon (n)---- an activity that has become fashionable and attracts many new participants
organic (adj)---- occurring gradually, without feeling forced, and developing from parts that exist together in a natural relationship
launch (n)---- a beginning or introduce of new plan or product

Specialized Term

tagline (n)---- 口号；标语a short advertising slogan, often repeated so as to become memorable

Exercises for Today:

Discussion Question:

What do you need to be a successful leader of good-to-great company?

Dictation & Translation:

a) Dictation： 5 missing words
b) Translation：  Last but one paragraph

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