On the Road to Greatness
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By John Kurkowski   
Tuesday, 15 May 2007
Good to Great was the title of Jim Collins’ popular book of a few years ago. In it, he detailed how several business leaders decided that being merely “good” wasn’t good enough, and then took their enterprises to new levels of success.

To many readers, I think one of the pleasant surprises of the book was that the companies Collins categorized as “great” weren’t always the ones that make the covers of national business magazines. But, they had all achieved greatness in vital categories such as market share or profitability.

That’s not terribly surprising to our magazine, though. We’ve found through the years that some of the most interesting companies can be the ones that you never thought of as “great,” and yet they are.

However, as Collins wanted to find out, how do you get to be “great?” That’s a question we try to answer in some of our articles this month. On page six, Special Projects Editor Chris Petersen reviews the lessons learned from many of the companies we have featured on our covers.

Some you’ll have heard of, some maybe not. But as Petersen writes, all “have reported having some common elements, including strong employee development, clear vision from the top and a 360-degree view of the industry.”

My favorite observation in the article is from the CEO of the Green Bay Packers, whose “360-view” takes in local merchants who depend on home games. “We know businesses in the area count on those weekends for a great deal of their budget,” Bob Harlan said.

On page 10, business consultant Scott Blanchard delves into some of the common factors among great companies. “Great companies focus on more than one bottom line when gauging their performance,” he observes. “They choose to be not only the investment of choice, but also the provider [and] employer of choice.” I hope you find these ideas inspiring as you pursue greatness at your own company.
 
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