6009N: Good to Great Study Guide
The study guide is provided to guide you through the course material in a step by step format.
Reading assignments are for the book “Good to Great” byJim Collins.
1) Good is the enemy of great
Reading Assignment: Chapter 1 <<>> Review Questions: #1-8
The learning objectives for this lesson are to gain an understanding of:
- Why the study of “good to great” companies was undertaken
- An overview of the framework of concepts that were developed from the study
2) Level 5 leadership
Reading Assignment: Chapter 2 <<>> Review Questions: # 9-12
The learning objectives for this lesson are to gain an understanding of:
- The hierarchy of executive capabilities identified in the research
- Defining a level 5 leader
- How leaders set up successors for success
- Qualities of a level 5 leader
- Cultivating level 5 leadership
- The role of celebrity leaders
3) First who. . then what
Reading Assignment: Chapter 3 <<>> Review Questions: # 13-19
The learning objectives for this lesson are to gain an understanding of:
- Getting the right people on the bus and figuring out where to drive it
- Why “who” questions come before “why” questions
- What the “genius with a thousand helpers” model is
- Rigorous vs. ruthless leaders
- How to search for the best answers
4) Confront the brutal facts (yet never lose faith)
Reading Assignment: Chapter 4 <<>> Review Questions: 20-26
The learning objectives for this lesson are to gain an understanding of:
- How to examine the current reality
- Creating a culture for the truth to be heard
- Responding to adversity
5) The hedgehog concept (simplicity within the three circles)
Reading Assignment: Chapter 5 <<>> Review Questions: $27-35
The learning objectives for this lesson are to gain an understanding:
- The definition of the hedgehog concept
- How to determine your core business
- How to develop insight into the drivers of your economic engine
- How to set goals and strategies
6) A culture of discipline
Reading Assignment: Chapter 6 <<>> Review Questions: #36-42
The learning objectives for this lesson are to gain an understanding of:
- How to sustain great results
- Bureaucracy and its causes and effects
- The components of a culture of discipline
7) Technology accelerators
Reading Assignment: Chapter 7 <<>> Review Questions: #43-48
The learning objectives for this lesson are to gain an understanding of:
- Technology and the Hedgehog concept
- Technology accelerators in the good-to-great companies
- Technology as an accelerator, not a creator, of momentum
- The technology trap
- Technology and the fear of being left behind
8) The flywheel and the doom loop
Reading Assignment: Chapter 8 <<>> Review Questions: #49-55
The learning objectives for this lesson are to gain an understanding of:
- Buildup and breakthrough
- How circumstances affect the buildup-breakthrough flywheel model
- The “flywheel effect”
- How changing course repeatedly can create a “doom loop”
- The misguided use of acquisitions
- The flywheel as a wraparound idea
9) From Good to Great to Built to Last
Reading Assignment: Chapter 9 <<>> Review Questions: #56-60
The learning objectives for this lesson are to gain an understanding of:
- How the great companies in “Built to Last” used the good-to great framework during their formative years
- Core ideology: the extra dimension of enduring greatness
- Good bhags, bad bhags, and other conceptual links
- Why greatness?