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As someone who just moved into the "social sectors" from a for-profit world, this is an invaluable resource to help change lenses.
A very short book — more like a really long blog post — aimed at people who loved "Good to Great" but are in the social sector and thus do not have profits by which to measure success. Again, he's got a few amazing real-life stories to illustrate the merits of his program for going from good to great, such as with the Cleveland symphony. He admits the topic deserves a full book but says it'll take 10 years to do and so this is a stopgap meant to answer the most common questions he's received fro...
Quotes from "Good to Great and the Social Sectors" James C. Collins•In the social sectors, money is only an input, and not a measure of greatness.•A great organization is one that delivers superior performance and makes a distinctive impact over a long period of time.•What if your outputs are inherently not measurable? The basic idea is still the same: separate inputs from outputs, and hold yourself accountable for progress in outputs, even if those outputs defy measurement.•"But we cannot measu...
Helpful, quick translation of Good to Great to the social sector.
Short, concise, and a breath of fresh air. I'm grateful for Jim Collins taking the key concepts from his book "Good to Great" and applying them to the social sector. As a pastor of a new church plant I found his insights extremely helpful and encouraging. Now to tackle "Good to Great" to better develop myself as a leader.
I am working in both business sector and social sector, and I can confidently say that this book is on point. It's short, well organized, and the concept is inspiring. It gives me new thoughts and ideas and perspectives on my preconceptions of business vs social. It added so much joy to my gloomy monday and inspired me to strive for greatness. Highly recommend this gem.
This was a fabulous little monograph that explains the "Good to Great" principles applied in the social sectors. "Our work is not fundamentally about business; it is about what separates great from good." We need to define "great" and measure it and collect evidence in some way, have good leadership and get things done in a diffuse power structure, get the right people on the bus, rethink the economic engine, and build momentum for the brand. A part of this is considering:1. What are you deeply
Appreciate the author taking an extra dive into how the business principles would apply to government and nonprofits, and wish more business authors did the same.
A simple addendum to Collins' famous Good to Great, summarizing the main points and commenting on how they are relevant to work in the social sectors. Give that my whole career has been in public education and Christian ministry, I both appreciate this book's existence and appreciate Collins' point about the complexity of much social sector leadership. He notes that in the social sectors, it is less common than in business that leaders can lead merely by power and more common that we need to acc...
This book, I read early on in my management career. It was a great starting point to get the ‘jest’ of leadership and the ‘how to get people on your bus.’ Short, easy read, less than 50 pages; I would recommend this book to anyone getting into a team environment or embarking on a management role either in a non-profit or a business. The main points can be interchangeable in both avenues. The biggest takeaway from this book was that progress is key, and quantifying that progress is the best measu...
This review assumes you have read the full text of Good to Great before picking up this add-on booklet.I think this is a phenomenal addition to the book, and takes many of the best ideas from Good to Great and shifts them from valuable corporate insights to nearly universally applicable foundations of project management. Granted, many of the ideas were already easily translated, like the Flywheel. However, having them laid out alongside real world examples of these principles in use was very val...
Extensive quotes from the book:Five questions which form the framework of this piece:1. Defining "Great"--Getting Thing Done without Business Metrics2. Level 5 Leadership--Getting Things Done within a Diffuse Power Structure3. First Who--Getting the Right People on the Bus within Social Sector Constraints4. The Hedgehog Concept--Rethinking the Economic Engine without a Profit Motive5. Turning the Flywheel--Building Momentum by Building the Brandpg. 3A great organization is one that delivers supe...
A monograph to accompany Collins’ Good To Great (which I haven’t read). The underlying principle of this “missing chapter” is that we don't need to impose the language of business on the social sector, but develop a language of greatness. He does this by focusing on five issues that he used in the book and tweaking them for a different mission and context.The first is Defining Great (How do we calibrate success without business metrics?). Instead of money being an output, as it is in the busines...
Read this as part of my role on the EPDSC Board. I've heard references to the full book before and haven't had a chance to read it. This definitely piqued my interest in learning more about the concept.I really appreciated how the author delineated which ideas were based on his research and which were untested hypotheses he plans to study but for now can share anecdotal examples. There were many good takeaways but one I can apply to my own work is the idea that there simply aren't always metrics...
To quote a brilliant former colleague, "Jim Collins makes me swoon." I've read and reread this booklet 3 different times, and I pick up something new every time. Its refreshing to look at a different paradigm from someone who gets that the work of non profits is not defined by the financial statement, but by the impact of the work. This is not earth shattering or new by any means, but its a damn good reminder of why we exist and how to start to think so we can go from being mediocre non profits
Too bad it's such a tiny book - the integration of all our social systems - when they are in fact designed to support all - is essential. Mr. Collins begins that work here. Personally, I am not sure I agree with the subtitle "Why Business Thinking Is Not The Answer" - I would have to say that current business thinking - a dominate/subjugate/dog eat dog ... - is definitely not the answer - but what if all life is like business, and a balanced, kinder model might help us lead our most vulnerable m...
Collins is amazing. He does so much research and speaks so clearly with practical steps to his theoretical knowledge of problems. So many amazing things to implement into ministry.
This book changed my life and set me to dreaming. A must read for all non-profits, servant or volunteer leaders and anyone desiring to change the world!
https://joemcfadden.org/2015/03/28/bo...How do social sector organizations ‘calibrate success without business metrics,’ ‘get things done within a diffuse power structure,’ ‘get the right people on the bus within social sector constraints,’ rethink the economic engine without a profit motive,’ and ‘build momentum by building the brand?’ (3)If we only have great companies, we will merely have a prosperous society, not a great one. Economic growth and power are the means, not the definition, of a
I enjoyed this short book. I read it for one of my graduate level courses, and knew I’d like it the moment I read the first line: “We must reject the idea—well-intentioned, but dead wrong—that the primary path to greatness in the social sectors is to become ‘more like a business.’”Collins frames this short response book with this commentary. The book itself was written in response to social sector leaders who read “Good to Great” and pointed out differences between private and public sector orga...