Book Bite: Good to Great and the Social Sectors by Jim Collins
- Kevin D
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Clocking it at 35 pages, this addendum which seeks to apply the concepts from Good to Great to the social sectors, is a chapter-length discourse which doesn't quite reach its goal.
Collins writes in this opening that many of the struggles that face businesses face social sectors and that building a framework of greatness is equally applicable. He also acknowledges five issues that arise in the difference between the two - measuring success, difference in power structure, difference in hiring, alignment with a profit motive, and brand development.
These are all true and Collins does a solid job of exploring the differences and similarities in the business and nonprofit worlds. For example, instead of profit, you can measure greatness with a "consistent and intelligent, method of assessing your output results, and then tracking your trajectory with rigor" (8). For schools, this could be test results, high school/college placements, et al. Likewise his discussion of executive (hierarchical) leadership and legislative (consensus building) leadership is illuminating for school leaders.
I think the tract struggles to engage with the realities of hiring - a key concept of getting the right people in the right spots on the boss. In addition, the final section (a great summary of G2G) speaks to "clock building, not time telling" and "preserving the core/stimulating progress" (33) acknowledging the importance of leadership. In both cases, there's a clear difference from business where a charismatic leader with a dedicated mission can succeed but succession planning is more difficult. A greater study or discussion of this would have made the book much stronger -- given the way the original focused on strong processes that are less dependent on an individual.
In the end, the book probably isn't worth its cost as a standalone but is worth a library checkout after completing the original Good to Great.
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