Good to Great

Dan Healy

Good to Great
by Jim Collins
Harper Collins Publishers, Inc. (2001)
ISBN: 0-06-662099-6

Good to Great and the Social Sectors
by Jim Collins
ISBN: 0-9773264-0-3

The Good to Great and the Social Sectors is a monograph to accompany Good to Great. They should be read together. This would be of particular interest to those of us that come from a corporate background and are now volunteering in a non-profit environment.

Jim Collins and his research crew decided to look for "good" companies that, at some transition point in their history turned "great". The appendices in this book contain all of the research details that describe how the companies were selected and how the analysis was carried out. From the 1,435 companies selected from the Fortune 500 they came down to 11 companies in the good-to-great set.

They analyzed the eleven to determine why they turned at the transition point and what made them continue go show greatness during the next 15 years. They then compared the eleven to their competitors that did not become great and, in some cases, ceased to exist.

Good to Great and the Social Sectors applies the same criterion to non-profit organizations to see what the differences and similarities are. Collins states that greatness is the result of conscious choice and discipline and can be attained by both profit and non-profit organizations.