Jim Collins offered up some incredible leadership principles from his book "Good to Great." Here are a few of the highlights of what he had to say.
Good is the enemy of great!
Greatness is a function of conscious choice and discipline. Great institutions have a culture of disciplines.
There are several principles that separate good organizations from great organizations:
1. Discipline of the Flywheel: Push hard on the flywheel until it builds momentum. It is hard and slow at first but eventually picks up momentum . Don't stop pushing! Great leaders fall when they begin to overreach by demonstrating an undisciplined pursuit of more. They are seduced by success.
2. Who Principle: You cannot compromise on the quality of people who take up seats on the bus. Great leaders need to ask "Who?" then "What?" If you get the right Who's you will get better What's!
3. Leadership: Great leaders demonstrate humility! They care more about the mission, vision, and values of an organization more than they are concerned with their self. "If it's about you, you will not build something great!."
4. Hedge Hog Principle: Focus on one big thing! What are you deeply passionate about? And what can you be the best at? Don't be distracted. Create a stop doing list! The things that distract from the Hedgehog. "To have a to do list without a stop doing list is undisciplined and unproductive!"
"Don't confuse values with practices!" "Every generation needs the freedom to create practices in order to pass on the values!"
"Create a stop doing list"
I need to do this, instead of a To Do List, A NOT To Do list.
Did you make any changes personally or in your leadership out of this session?
Which speaker at Catalyst impacted you the most?
Great stuff, I read Good to Great for Social Sectors this summer.
You might like his website if you haven't seen it already. www.jimcollins.com
There's stuff on there to take yourself, groups or teams deeper through the material.
Posted by: Sovann | October 29, 2008 at 05:15 PM