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ORGANIZATIONS THAT GROW Jim Collins set out to discover what made some companies move from being good to being great. What was it that allowed them to make the leap to greatness-and stay there--while other, comparable companies just held steady at good? To answer this question, he and his research team embarked on a five year study. They selected eleven companies whose stock returns had skyrocketed relative to other companies in their industry, and who had maintained this edge for at least fifteen years. They matched each company to another one in the same industry that had similar resources, but did not make the leap. He also studied a third group of companies ones that had made a leap from good to great but did not sustain it What distinguished the thriving companies from the others? There were several important factors, as Collins reports in his book, Good to Great, butone that was absolutely key was the type of leader who in every cane led the company into greatness. These were not the larger-than-life, chanama types who oozed ego and self-proclaimed talent. They were self-ellacing people who constantly asked questions and had the ability to confront the most brutal answers-that is, to look failures in the face, even der w while maintaining faith that they would succeed in the end Does this sound familiar? Collins wonders why his effective leaders bave these particular qualities. And why these qualities go together the way they do. And how these leaders came to acquire them. But we know. They have the growth mindset. They believe in human development. And these are the hallmarks They're not constantly trying to prove they're better than others. For example, they don't highlight the pecking order with themselves at the top they don't claim credit for other people's contributions, and they don't undermine others to feel powerful Instead they are constantly trying to improve They surround themselves with the most able people they can find, they look squarely a their own mistakes and deficiencies, and they ask frankly what skills they and the company will need in the future. And because of this, they can move forward with confidence that's grounded in the facts, not built on fantasies about their talent Collins reports that Alan Wurtzel, the CEO of the giant electronics chain Circuit City, held debates in his boardroom. Rather than simply trying to impress his board of directors, he used them to learn. With his executive team as well, he questoned, debated, prodded until he slowly gained a clearer picture of where the company was and where it needed to go. "They used to call me the prosecutor, because I would hone in on a question Wurtzel told Collins "You know, like a bulldog I wouldn't let go until 1 understood. Why, why, why?" Wurtzel considered himself a "plow horse," a hardworking, no nonsense normal kind of guy, but he took a company that was close to bankruptcy and over the next fifteen years turned it into one that delivered the highest total return to its stockholders of any firm on the New York Stock Exchange.