We learned that a former prisoner of war had more to teach us about what it takes to find a path to greatness than most books on corporate strategy.
The idea that leading in a “fast world” always requires “fast decisions” and “fast action” – and that we should embrace an overall ethos of “Fast! Fast! Fast!” – is a good way to get killed. 10X leaders figure out when to go fast, and when not to.
To create an effective envisioned future requires a certain level of unreasonable confidence and commitment. Keep in mind that a BHAG is not just a goal; it is a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal.
You get the best people, you build them into the best managers in the industry, and you accept the fact that some of them will be recruited to become CEOs of other companies.
In other words, the budget process is not about figuring out how much each activity gets, but about determining which activities best support the Hedgehog Concept and should be fully strengthened and which should be eliminated entirely.
Greatness is an inherently dynamic process, not an end point. The moment you think of yourself as great, your slide toward mediocrity will have already begun.
Larger-than-life, celebrity leaders who ride in from the outside are negatively correlated with taking a company from good to great. Ten of eleven good-to-great CEOs came from inside the company, whereas the comparison companies tried outside CEOs six times more often.
The good-to-great companies did not focus principally on what to do to become great; they focused equally on what not to do and what to stop doing.
So, early in the war, he created an entirely separate department outside the normal chain of command, called the Statistical Office, with the principal function of feeding him – continuously updated and completely unfiltered – the most brutal facts of reality.
The fact that something is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” is irrelevant, unless it fits within the three circles. A great company will have many once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.
The best people don’t need to be managed. Guided, taught, led – yes. But not tightly managed.
This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end – which you can never afford to lose – with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.
Far more difficult than implementing change is figuring out what works, understanding why it works, grasping when to change, and knowing when not to.
Goals live on the other side of obstacles and challenges,” said Bourque. “Along.
The envisioned future should be so exciting in its own right that it would continue to keep the organization motivated even if the leaders who set the goal disappeared.
The good-to-great companies built a consistent system with clear constraints, but they also gave people freedom and responsibility within the framework of that system. They hired self-disciplined people who didn’t need to be managed, and then managed the system, not the people.
Second, if you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to motivate and manage people largely goes away.
Hewlett Packard Chairman Built Company by Design, Calculator by Chance.
This rare ability to manage continuity and change – requiring a consciously practiced discipline – is closely linked to the ability to develop a vision.
No human enterprise can succeed at the highest levels without consistency; if you bring no coherent unifying concept and disciplined methodology to your endeavors, you’ll be whipsawed by changes in your environment and cede your fate to forces outside your control.
None of us can predict with certainty the twists and turns our lives will take.