Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great

As someone who is finishing his undergraduate career, I found this monologue not only to be inspiring, but also helpful as I prepare to enter the workforce. I am interested in becoming involved in or starting a nonprofit, and I don’t think I could’ve gotten the concepts offered in this book anywhere else. In short, I felt empowered. In the monograph, Collins wrote that over the years he recognized that many business leaders entered into the social sector only to encounter failure. Seeking to solve this, he researched and compared successful businesses and social sector institutions to see what common elements made them survive—and where they fell. He outlines the steps these institutions took to separate them from the good and made them truly great. This research birthed Good to Great, and the monologue stands as a piece addressed to the hopeful social sector leaders amongst its readers. Its overall message seems to read, “Greatness isn’t what you might think it is, and here is how to achieve it.” Jim Collin’s writing is at once entertaining and clear. Even a junior high schooler could pick up his this piece and follow his logical and fluid wiring. His natural language and purposeful strut drew me in from the first page. Even though this was an accompanying monologue to Good to Great, he quickly ‘caught me up’ to the concepts presented in the book, relating them directly to the plight of the social sector. I was stunned by the clear comparisons in thinking that he drew between successful social sector institutions and businesses. In five very clear sections, Collins addresses separate issues that social sector leaders must address to form a successful social sector institution. They are as follows: 1. “Defining “Great,”—Calibrating Success Without Business Metrics,” 2. “Level 5 Leadership—Getting Things Done within a Diffuse Power Structure” 3. “First Who—Getting The Right People On The Bus, Within Social Sector Constraints.” 4. “The Hedgehog Concept—Rethinking the Economic Engine without a Profit Motive” 5. “Turning the Flywheel—Building Momentum by Building the Brand” Each section’s issue addresses very important questions. For the social sectors, the first answers how greatness can be defined and pursued, the second helps show what extremely adept and effective leaders look like, the third helps show how to hire the right people, the fourth focuses on both on sustaining longevity and consistency, and the fifth talks about how to build momentum and create a bigger impact within the communities touched by a ‘social sector.’ In each issue, Collins uses real-world examples of great leaders and the decisions they made to steer their organizations towards greatness. From Tom Morris of the Cleveland Orchestra to William Bratton of the NYPD, a variety of examples edify Collins’ concepts. Combined with graphs and empirical data, his narrative walks the reader through the various hurtles faced by social sectors and businesses alike, and shows how a social sector responds to prevail and achieve greatness, from day one. Readers of this book will learn how to lead (and when not to,) how to measure success, how to recruit, how to find corporate purpose, how to rethink resources, and how to overcome crises. I think that calling this book ‘a manual solely for social sector leaders’ would not do its utility or its masterful breadth of coverage justice, even for its 31 page length. Collins eloquently nails ideas usually learned over years of trial-and-error. The monograph is testament to the genius of Collins and Good to Great, and the practical wisdom provided inside is more than worth its time. Jim Collins has provided the missing link for many who seek to venture into nonprofit careers or business. I would recommend this book to students and professionals alike, for the skills presented in this monologue. This book, in short, teaches you how to lead a team of people towards making an impact in a way that ethically utilizes resources and personnel, and sustain performance towards a state of accomplishment aforementioned as ‘great.’ I would highly recommend this book to you if you plan to run or organize a nonprofit.

As a student of social entrepreneurship, I was initially struck by Jim Collins's argument that social ventures should not strive to operate like traditional businesses. However, by the conclusion of his monograph, I came to appreciate his perspective that social ventures can achieve sustainability on their own terms. In this vein, Collins succinctly outlines the key elements that contribute to building 'great' and enduring organizations in the social sector. It is an essential primer, particularly for practitioners working in this space.

Anyone who's read Good to Great will know that the original book is full of great stories about how businesses went from simply being "good" to being "great." Though some of these companies are not held in the same high esteem they were when Jim Collins wrote the original (Circuit City or Fannie Mae, anyone?) -- the observations he took from those companies are still valid today. The missing piece from Good to Great is how to make the original work for organizations that don't have the bottom line as the driving factor. Nonprofits still need to have "the right people on the bus," "Level 5 Leadership," and need to have a "hedgehog," but Collins didn't tell us how these applied to the non-business sector. This problem is addressed in this small add-on -- Good to Great and the Social Sectors, a small read that makes it clear on how nonprofits can still apply Good to Great values to their own organizations with mission -- not profit -- in mind. This work doesn't stand on its own, however; one must read the original book to understand the principles in-depth so they'll make sense when the reader comes upon them in Good to Great and the Social Sectors. As one of the best business and leadership books of the past decade, From Good to Great is a must-read for any for-profit or nonprofit executive, but the latter would be more easily guided in how those principles will work for them in this very reasonably priced followup.

This provides some clarity on the differences between the business version and the social sector version. The research is helpful and it breaks down the concepts in easy to understand charts.

What a happy mistake to receive this monograph book when I thought I was ordering his original Good to Great book! It is very short and easy read that fits the Social Sector and shows how we are different from the business sector. It gave me hope for the Wellness Weavers paradigm. Jim wrote it in a way that would have still made sense to me without reading the main book first. The only thing that will make this book more effective is finding the Core Team for your pure-in-heart mission. I recommend you get it, apply it and together the social sectors, that are used to stretching our money and leveraging our resources, can transform the world. The application of this book can help families, communities, businesses, the social sectors work together to solve water, food, healthy communication and collaboration so people can actually realize there is enough for everyone and live with peaceful security. By doing so we can tap into wise use of the tax dollars we have already spent and shape a government that is working for all people.

My deceased husband would have enjoyed reading this more than me, a 75 year old grandma. I read it because it was a reading assignment. I did learn that level 5 leaders are humble, not with me, myself and I attitudes.

After reading the book Good to Great, I had to take a year to understand some of its concepts and apply it to my personal life and work life. It has worked well so far. Now, I read this to be able to apply it to my consulting business for nonprofit, and it has given me an amazing framework to build upon. 'I have a clear idea of what a great organization should look like. Thank you for your work Jim Collins.

Writing with excellence as always, Collins brings a superb contextualization of his book Good to Great to Social Sectors. Must read for all social leaders.

Oubliez tout ce que vous avez appris dans les écoles de commerce, et lisez ces 50 pages (le meilleur rapport performance/nb pages du marché!). Il transformera votre approche des organisations sans but lucratif.

It's actually an extra chapter for the previous published book. 4/4 stars because is too pricey for 30 pages "book".

Excellent and a good response to those who think business models automatically transfer to the social sector