Question

Need a summary of chapter 8 of book ' Good to great'

Answer 1

Good to great companies come about by a cumulative process- step by step, action by action, decision by decision, turn by turn of the flywheel – that adds up to sustained spectacular results.

Blue plans – Make projections to the outside world below what you think you can really do, then take the difference between those projections and what you really do and spend that on entrepreneurial projects that have not yet been funded.

Alignment, in large part, just happens when you get the right conditions.

Once you get the flywheel going, there is less of a burden to always be communicating your goals, people can extrapolate from what is already going on.

The Doom Loop – The institution of some new program, leader, or event to stimulate progress, followed by a lack of performance, followed by disappointing results, followed by more reaction without understanding.

Peter Drucker observed that the drive for mergers and acquisitions come less from sound reasoning and more from the fact that doing deals is a much more exciting way to spend your day than doing actual work.

Signs That You’re on the Flywheel

• Follow a pattern of buildup leading to a breakthrough.
• Reach breakthrough by an accumulation of steps, on after the other, turn by turn of the flywheel; feels like an organic evolutionary process.
• Confront the brutal facts to see clearly what steps must be taken to build momentum.
• Attain consistency with a clear Hedgehog Concept, resolutely staying within the three circles.
• Follow the pattern of disciplined people (“first who”), disciplined thought, disciplined action.
• Harness appropriate technologies to your Hedgehog Concept, to accelerate momentum.
• Make major acquisitions after breakthrough (if at all) to accelerate momentum.
• Spend little energy trying to motivate or align people; the momentum of the flywheel is infectious.
• Let the results do most of the talking.
• Maintain consistency over time; each generation builds on the work of previous generations; the flywheel continues to build momentum.

Signs Your in the Doom Loop

• Skip buildup and jump right into a breakthrough.
• Implement big programs, radical change efforts, dramatic revolutions; chronic restructuring – always looking for a miracle moment or new hero leader.
• Embrace fads and engage in management hoopla, rather than confront the brutal facts.
• Demonstrate chronic inconsistency – lurching back and forth and straying far outside the three circles
• Jump right to action, without disciplined thought and without first getting the right people on the bus.
• Make off the cuff reactionary decisions regarding technology for fear of being left behind.
• Make major acquisitions before the breakthrough, in a doomed attempt to create momentum.
• Spend a lot of energy trying to align and motivate people, rallying them around new visions.
• Sell the future, to compensate for lack of results.
• Each new leader brings a radical new path; the flywheel grinds to a halt, and the doom loop beings again.