First off, Reveries Magazine has their email blast, Cool News Of The Day, which is a must-read. I was just reviewing the issue from this Monday and came across the article, Jim Collins Redux. Jim Collins is the famed business author of Built To Last and Good To Great. Both tomes are considered business book must-haves. Strangely, I am currently listening to the audio version of Good To Great, so this piece really caught my eye.
It turns out that many leaders in the social sector were trying to figure out how to apply the lessons of Good To Great to their dealings but found it increasingly difficult to execute concepts like Level Five Leadership within an organization that relies on many other mitigating factors.
Collins recently self-published a 36-page add-on to deal with this issue titled, Good To Great And The Social Sectors. The new book sells for about ten bucks at Amazon.com and here’s a paragraph from the Reveries piece:
“‘Non-profit leaders often complained’ that an autocratic style was not an option for them, and obviously driving profits was not exactly their focus, either. An especially ‘telling moment’ actually came to Jim Collins more than a decade ago, while addressing a group of church leaders, after advising them that they needed ‘to think bluntly about succession plans and how to ensure that their values persist after they leave.’ A pastor ‘leaped to his feet’ and said ‘Our founder was born 2,000 years ago … And he lives to this day!’ The audience laughed and Jim Collins decided he ‘liked the challenges of stretching his ideas in to new settings.’ He started writing his new pamphlet in 2003, in collaboration with ‘an informal advisory group of more than two dozen leaders in law enforcement, education, health care, consulting and music.’ The initial print run is just 50,000 copies, and based on early demand, says Jim, ‘We’ll need to print more.'”
You can grab a copy here: Good To Great And The Social Sectors By Jim Collins.
I would love to see this version: Good To Great And The Advertising And Marketing Sectors. Jim, are you listening?