Category Archives: Book Review

Breakthrough to Success: The Flywheel or the Doom Loop?

Book Review, Discipline

The next lesson from ‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins  is that the breakthrough to success is a slow build-up process.  Something like pushing on a heavy flywheel.  If you keep pushing on the flywheel it will slowly build up momentum.  Eventually with enough pushes the flywheel will start spinning on its own and take off.  Collins was researching what made good companies become great companies.  This research does not just apply to organisations.  Most importantly we can also learn lessons from the research to apply in our own lives.

The Flywheel

There is no one single push on the wheel that makes it take off.  Each little push on the flywheel in the right direction helps to build up momentum and leads to breakthrough to success.  In short if you consistently apply each of the concepts discussed in the book then eventually you will reach breakthrough.  Do you remember all the key concepts that we have discussed in this series of articles drawn from the research?  Just to refresh your memory here they are again:

  1. Great leadership – humble with absolute focus and stoic determination to succeed.
  2. Who first then what – get the right people around you (kinda like the no asshole rule!).
  3. Confront the brutal facts – face up to reality and seek out the truth at all times.
  4. Find your hedgehog concept – something you love to do, you are really good at and pays well.
  5. Have a culture of discipline – stay true to your hedgehog concept and say NO often.
  6. Use technology as an accelerator – work out how to apply selected technologies as an accelerator of momentum and not as a creator of momentum.

Keep working on the above concepts with consistency and keep focused and motivated by your vision for the future and push that big flywheel a little every day and eventually it will take off by itself.

The Doom Loop

In contrast to the above steps the Doom Loop is where you demonstrate chronic inconsistency and stray from outside the three circles of your hedgehog concept (below).  The doom loop focuses on posturing and looking good in the short term rather than doing the groundwork that needs to be done for long term success (such as facing up to reality and getting clarity on your hedgehog concept).

Loads to reflect on!

Best wishes,

Tom

P.S. Check out all my online courses here.  Check out Good to Great on Amazon below.  The book was first published in 2001 but is still as relevant as ever today (the fundamentals don’t change!).

Self-discipline is key to success!

Book Review, Business Book, Discipline
Discipline is key!
Picture Credit: Justin Mazza CC BY-SA 2.0

The forth lesson from Good to Great by Jim Collins  is discipline!  Collins was researching what made good companies become great companies.   It turns out that having self-disciplined staff was key.  Great companies had self-disciplined people on board.  They were not trying to impose discipline on undisciplined people!  As we have seen in an earlier post great companies had the right people on the bus.  People with the self-discipline to confront the brutal facts of reality.  People with the self-discipline to continue searching until they understood their ‘Hedgehog Concept’ (see previous post for an explanation).  That means the discipline to stay within the three circles (do you know what your hedgehog is?).  The three circles are: 1. passion 2. what you can be the best at and 3. what you can make money at.  The problem is that it is hard to say no to great opportunities which are not in the three circles.  You have to have the discipline to say no to these opportunities.  Steve Jobs of Apple also had the same dilemma.  According to Jobs “people think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on.  But that’s not what it means at all.  It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are.”  To say no takes tremendous discipline.  Finally great companies and their employees were able to take disciplined action. That is the discipline to do whatever it takes to become the best.

Stop Doing Lists

Interestingly great companies made as much use of  ‘stop doing lists’ as ‘to-do lists’.  Success did not come from doing more and more!  Success came also from stopping to do the wrong things.

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”

Jim Rohn

Summary

In summary discipline is key to success for companies and also for individuals.  Disciplined people engaged in disciplined thought and then taking disciplined actions.  A key aspect of discipline is to remain true to your hedgehog concept.  That means saying no to other good ideas.  That means having a not to do list as much as a to-do list.

Best Wishes,

Tom

PS I have learned so much from this chapter of the book – I certainly need more self discipline and adherence to my own personal hedgehog.  How about you?  You can read more about not to do lists here.  More lessons from the book next week.  In the meantime have a look at Jim Collins’s website for further information and resources.

Grab your copy of ‘Good to Great’ from Amazon: