The seven features of good to great companies
- Level 5 Leadership: The team were surprised to find a different breed of leader – self–effacing, quiet, reserved, even shy, but also determined and with a steely resolve and focussed not on themselves but on their company.
- First Who…. Then What: First get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, the right people in the right seats – then work out where to go.
- Confront the Brutal Facts (but never lose faith): All the great companies had a steadfast determination to succeed in the end and the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of their current reality, whatever they might be, and deal with them.
- The Three Circles of Focus: The great company teams spent often years arguing about and deciding upon the marriage of three concepts: – what we care passionately about – what we can be best at – what drives the economic engine.
- The Culture of Discipline: Once clear about “what”, few companies have the persistent discipline that endures and that creates a relevant culture of “the way we do things here” into which the whole company can buy.
- Relevant Technology: The great companies are concerned, above all, with technologies that enhance that core business. They pioneer applications that do this rather than pursue technology for its own sake.
- Steady Steps: All the transformations were the result of persistent little steps. There was no single great leap forward.