All great organizations are guided by the following paradox wherein through sevre perseverence they have faith to prevail over all difficulties by confronting brutal facts
Adopted from Jim Collins’s book Good to Great , the following snapshot illustrates the Stockdale Paradox
Great organizations have an uncanny knack of communicating their WHY or the reason they exist , in an easily understandable manner..
The Hedgehog Concept is highlighted by three circles wherein the organization tries to operate at the common intersection point of these three circles..
The following three messages form the central theme of the three circles part of the Hedgehog Concept..
Thus adherence to the Hedgehog Concept for any major business decision becomes the mandate for any great organization that effectively communicates its WHY..
Concepts adopted from Jim Collins’s book Good to Great and Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why..
Great organizations spend essentially no to very less energy in trying to align , motivating troops and managing change..
Under the right kind of work environments nurtured by level 5 leaders in such organizations the problems of commitment , alignment , motivation and change largely take care of themselves..
Adopted from Jim Collins’s book Good to Great
Less known companies try to create a breakthrough with large and misguided acquisitions without adhering to any framework..
The great companies in contrast use large acquisitions after breakthrough to accelerate momentum guided by the Hedgehog Concept after their flywheel has already build up momentum..
Adopted from Jim Collins’s book Good to Great
Rather than accumulating momentum – turn by turn of the flywheel these companies try to skip buildup and jump immediately to the breakthrough..
Then with disappointing results they lurch back and forth failing to maintain a consistent direction..
Adopted from Jim Collins’s book Good to Great
The key to success of great organizations with acquisitions is that the big acquisitions generally take place only after the development and understanding of the three circles in the Hedgehog Concept and after the flywheel has built significant momentum..
This is what they use acquisitions as a accelerator of momentum not a creator of the same..
Adopted from Jim Collins’s book Good to Great
Great organizations are known for making steady 20 mile marches adhering to the Hedgehog concept sacrificing the enticements or pressures due to the stock market..
The buildup-breakthrough flywheel effect is when great organizations build up themselves for a breakthrough and once these achieve the breakthrough they scale up adhering to the Hedgehog concept by showing fanatical discipline..
This culture of discipline is what separates them from the comparison organizations..
Adopted from Jim Collins’s book Good to Great
How an organization reacts to technological change is a good indicator of its inner drive for greatness vs mediocrity..
Great organizations respond with thoughtfulness and creativity driven by a compulsion of turning unrealized potential into results..
Mediocre companies react and lurch about motivated of fear of being left behind ..
Adopted from Jim Collins’s book Good to Great
Adopted from the book of Jim Collins , Good to Great..
Jim Collins mentions that certainly a company cannot remain a laggard and hope to be great but technology by itself can never be a primary cause of either GREATNESS or DECLINE..
Those who turn GREAT are motivated by a deep sense of creative urge and inner compulsion for sheer unadulterated excellence for its own sake..
Those who build and perpetuate MEDIOCRITY are motivated more by the fear of being left behind..
Adopted from Jim Collins’s book Good to Great