Built To Last
Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
by Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras
“This is not a book about mediocrity. Built to Last is an admittedly successful study of why some companies emerged as premiere institutions in their industries.”
“Whether you belong to the cosmic bailment or not, there’s no way you’ll put this book down...It’s beautifully researched, creatively expounded, and finally, a proposed new theory of capitalism that makes sense.”
In the world of business literature, few tomes have achieved the legendary status of Jim Collins' seminal work "Built to Last." Published in 1994, it transcended the typical brew of disposable management reading by answering two critical questions through rigorous research:
What makes the truly exceptional companies different from other good/mediocre ones over the long haul?
What unique philosophies and practices must companies adopt to attain enduring greatness rather than just moments of mediocrity?
By meticulously studying the historical roots of enduring elite performers like Disney, 3M, and Boeing versus former giants who stumbled, Collins and his team uncovered foundational principles for navigating the inevitable trials and building companies that flourish over decades.
"Built to Last" is packed with profound insights and actionable advice, but here are some of the core keys that every visionary leader should understand:
Clock Building, Not Time Telling
Collins' signature metaphor is the difference between "time tellers" who thrive in short spurts and "clock builders" who construct systems for progress that can keep ticking forever.
Visionary companies like Sony weren't just superior at any point in time, but engineered themselves as "ticking clocks" combining superb strategies, ideas, products, service values, and cultures that perpetuate forward momentum through multiple generations of leaders and organizations.
The book dives deep into the philosophies, processes, and characteristics required to continually rejuvenate and progress rather than remaining stuck with limited windows of achievement.
Preserve the Core/Stimulate Progress
This balance between preserving a cherished core ideology and values while driving consistent change, progress, and innovation is called the "Genius of the AND." It's a key pattern Collins found among elite companies:
Disney never wavered from its core identity of wholesome family entertainment crafted through creativity and imagination. Yet it constantly rejuvenated new rides, films, shows to fuel progress.
Black & Decker doggedly preserved its philosophy of making quality power tools for professionals, yet reshaped product lines and acquisitions to catalyze reinvention.
Truly great companies find this balance without wavering from their ideological DNA or falling into the "Tyranny of the OR" that erodes pioneering advantage over time.
Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs)
Beyond a pure mission statement and economics, visionary companies develop and religiously pursue ambitious "Big Hairy Audacious Goals" that capture people's imagination and rally unified effort. These bold challenges, like Boeing's goal to be a dominant player in commercial aviation, are so audacious they would be dismissed as unrealistic by mediocre companies.
But BHAGs create productive avant-garde upheaval and serve as powerful mechanisms for vigorous progress over multiple decades. Collins shows how great companies use multiple generation of BHAGs to spur passion and relentless momentum, transcending short-term motivational fads.
Cult-Like Culture
One of Collins' more controversial findings was that elite companies didn't just espouse ideology, but took it to cultic levels of indoctrination and fanaticism. Employees and managers were systematically trained and well-versed in core philosophies until the ideology practically got encoded into DNA.
For example, Disney's leaders devoted massive time to mind-numbing repetition of what constituted "The Disney Way" through active indoctrination sessions. But this radical overarching alignment and devotion was critical to perpetuating their pioneering success and rejuvenation through inevitable setbacks.
Genius of AND Meets the Genius of the OR
In the final portion of the book, Collins and his team brought these concepts together into a powerful "Genius of AND Meets the Genius of the OR" framework for pushing beyond respectability into enduring industry dominance.
The Genius of AND (Preserve Core/Stimulate Progress) is combined with the Genius of OR - a mindset of fanatically pursuing one single Hugely Audacious Goal at a time within the core ideology in a "Cult-Like Culture" of cult-like indoctrination around philosophies and alignment.
Through these combined practices, elite companies managed to become both steadfastly disciplined and judiciously open to change and renewal. They channeled their fanatic focus and tireless effort towards singular, unifying BHAG objectives enabling visionary reinventions while reinforcing their essential DNA.
Build to Flip versus Build to Last
Of course, in today's modern startup landscape filled with frenzied unicorn and VC aspirations, many might dismiss Collins' research as too old-school and long-range. You could easily point to outliers who achieved mind-boggling jackpots by flipping hugely successful companies like Instagram, WhatsApp, and others.
But Collins has a straightforward counterpoint on the ephemeral "Built to Flip" mentality:
"Creating an enduring great company will likely create more sustainable value than getting caught up in the mentality of built to flip."
His reasoned perspective is that you can still achieve incredible wealth and resounding success through the disciplined "Built to Last" path - with the benefit of enduring importance and meaning versus building unanchored endeavors. Somewhat ironically, pioneers like Microsoft, Apple, and Google who followed Collins' wisdom in their early days have achieved almost unimaginable financial and cultural significance precisely through their relentless quest for long-term greatness.
In the perennial battle between building monuments or mere mercenaries, "Built to Last" offers the timeless signpost for establishing true company legacies that shape the world and transcend the ages. As Collins makes clear - ultimately, the greatest companies will be those with cult-like cultures relentlessly preserving their cherished core values while paradoxically stimulating consistent self-renewal to achieve audacious new heights over generations.
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