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GOOD TO GREAT

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Where are you on your journey

from

Good to Great

™ Diagnostic Tool

Developed by Jim Collins

Individual Worksheet Packet

Release Version 1.00

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Consent to Terms

Your use of the Good to Great™ Diagnostic Tool (the “Diagnostic Tool”) is subject to these Terms of Use

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OVERVIEW OF THE

GOOD TO GREAT™

FRAMEWORK

A great organization is one that makes a distinctive impact and delivers superior performance over a long period of time.

For a business, performance principally means ﬁnancial results, speciﬁcally return on invested capital. For a social sector

organization, on the other hand, performance must be assessed ﬁrst and foremost relative to the organization’s mission,

not its ﬁnancial results. Notice that by this deﬁnition that you do not need to be big to be great. Your distinctive impact

can be on a local or small community, and your performance can be superior and long-lasting without becoming large.

You might choose to grow in order to have a wider impact and to better deliver on your mission, but it is important to

understand that big does not equal great, and great does not equal big.

We derived these principles from a matched-pair research method, wherein we systematically analyzed companies that at

tained greatness during a particular phase of their histories in contrast to carefully selected comparison companies—com

panies facing nearly identical circumstances—that failed to attain greatness during the exact same historical eras.

The

Good-to-Great

Matched Pair Resear

ch Method

Inflection Point

Good, not Gr

eat

Good, not Gr

eat

Matched-pair Selection

(Comparable cases at the

moment of inflection)

What principles explain the diff

erence?

Comparison Cases

Good-to-Great Cases

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LEVEL 5 LEADERSHIP

THE

GOOD TO GREAT™

FRAMEWORK

The key is to recognize that the good-to-great principles are not a deﬁnition of greatness, but rather they represent a

series of principles for how to achieve greatness; they are input variables, not output variables. The ﬁrst step in your

never-ending journey from good to great is to be clear on the two sides of the diagram below, rigorously implementing

the left side of the page and rigorously assessing your results on the right side of the page.

INPUT PRINCIPLES*

Stage 1: DISCIPLINED PEOPLE

Level 5 Leadership

First Who, Then What

Stage 2: DISCIPLINED THOUGHT

Confront the Brutal Facts

The Hedgehog Concept

Stage 3: DISCIPLINED ACTION

Culture of Discipline

The Flywheel

Stage 4: BUILDING GREATNESS TO LAST**

Clock Building, not Time Telling

Preserve the Core/Stimulate Progress

BY APPLYING THE

GOOD TO GREAT™

FRAMEWORK YOU BUILD THE FOUNDATIONS OF A GREAT ORGANIZATION

* See a summary of the concept deﬁnitions on the next page for a brief deﬁnition of each concept.

** The principles in Stages 1-3 derive from research for the book

Good to Great

by Jim Collins; the principles

in Stage 4 derive from the book

Built to Last

by Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras.

OUTPUT RESULTS

Delivers Superior Performance

relative to its mission

Makes a Distinctive Impact

on the communities it touches

Achieves Lasting Endurance

beyond any leader, idea or setback

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GOOD TO GREAT™

CONCEPT SUMMARY

Our research shows that building a great organization proceeds in four basic stages; each stage consists of two

fundamental principles:

STAGE 1: DISCIPLINED PEOPLE

Level 5 Leadership

. Level 5 leaders are ambitious ﬁrst and foremost for the cause, the organization, the work—not them

selves—and they have the ﬁerce resolve to do whatever it takes to make good on that ambition. A Level 5 leader displays

a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.

First Who … Then What.

Those who build great organizations make sure they have the right people on the bus, the

wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the key seats before they ﬁgure out where to drive the bus. They

always think ﬁrst about “who” and then about what.

STAGE 2: DISCIPLINED THOUGHT

Confront the Brutal Facts—the Stockdale Paradox

. Retain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end,

regardless of the difﬁculties, AND AT THE SAME TIME have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current

reality, whatever they might be.

The Hedgehog Concept.

Greatness comes about by a series of good decisions consistent with a simple, coherent con

cept—a “Hedgehog Concept.” The Hedgehog Concept is an operating model that r

eﬂects understanding of three

intersecting circles: what you can be the best in the world at, what you are deeply passionate about, and what best drives

your economic or resource engine.

STAGE 3: DISCLIPINED ACTION

Culture of Discipline

. Disciplined people who engage in disciplined thought and who take disciplined action—operat

ing with freedom within a framework of responsibilities—this is the cornerstone of a culture that creates greatness. In a

culture of discipline, people do not have “jobs;” they have responsibilities.

The Flywheel

. In building greatness, there is no single deﬁning action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no

solitary lucky break, no miracle moment. Rather, the process resembles relentlessly pushing a giant heavy ﬂywheel in one

direction, turn upon turn, building momentum until a point of breakthrough, and beyond.

STAGE 4: BUILDING GREATNESS TO LAST

Clock Building, Not Time Telling

. Build an organization that can adapt through multiple generations of leaders; the exact

opposite of being built around a single great leader, great idea or speciﬁc program. Build catalytic mechanisms to stimu

late progress, rather than acting as a charismatic force of personality to drive progress.

Preserve the Core and Stimulate Progress

. Adherence to core values combined with a willingness to challenge and change

everything except those core values—keeping clear the distinction between “what we stand for” (which should never

change) and “how we do things” (which should never stop changing). Gr

eat companies have a purpose—a reason for

being—that goes far beyond just making money, and they translate this purpose into BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals)

to stimulate progress.

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Individual

Worksheets

Good to Great

™ Diagnostic Tool

Developed by Jim Collins

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Level 5 Leadership has two primary components:

1) Put Level 5 leaders in the most powerful seats.

2) Create a Level 5 leadership culture.

Grade Range:

A = We exemplify this trait exceptionally well—there is limited room for improvement.

B = We often exemplify this trait, but we also have room for improvement.

C = We show some evidence of this trait, but our record is spotty.

D = There is little evidence that we exemplify this trait, and we have obvious contradictions.

F = We operate almost entirely contrary to this trait.

Level 5 Leadership—Diagnostic, Part 1:

Put Level 5 leaders in the most powerful seats.

The leaders who sit in the most powerful seats in our organization ar

e ambitious ﬁrst and foremost for

the cause, the organization, the work—not themselves—and they have an iron will to do whatever it

takes to make good on that ambition.

The leaders who sit in the most powerful seats in our organization display an ever

-improving track record

of making Level 5 decisions—decisions that prove best for the long-term greatness of the company and

its work.

The leaders who sit in the most powerful seats in our organization practice the window and the mirr

or.

They point out the window to people and factors other than themselves to give cr

edit for success. When

confronted with failures, they look in the mirror and say, “I am responsible.”

While some members of the leadership team might be charismatic, this is not the primary sour

ce of their

effectiveness. They inspire others primarily via inspired standards—excellence, hard work, sacriﬁce, and

integrity—not with an inspiring public persona.

Level 5 Leadership—Diagnostic, Part 2:

Create a Level 5 leadership culture.

Our culture values substance over style, integrity over personality, and results over intentions.

Members of our leadership team dialogue and debate in search of the best answer (not for the sake of

looking smart or winning a point) up until the point of decision.

Once a decision is made, members of the team unify behind the decision to ensur

e success—even those

who disagreed with the decision.

We cultivate leaders who have all ﬁve levels in the Level 5 hierarchy, as laid out in

Good to Great

: highly

capable individuals, strong contributing team members, competent managers, effective leaders, and

Level 5 executives.

Grade:

(A, B, C, D, F)

Grade:

(A, B, C, D, F)

LEVEL 5 LEADERSHIP

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Grade:

(A, B, C, D, F)

Grade:

(A, B, C, D, F)

Grade:

(A, B, C, D, F)

FIRST WHO, THEN WHAT

First Who has four primary components:

1) Get the right people on the bus.

2) Get the right people in the right seats.

3) Get the wrong people off the bus.

4) Put who before what.

Grade Range:

A = We exemplify this trait exceptionally well—there is limited room for improvement.

B = We often exemplify this trait, but we also have room for improvement.

C = We show some evidence of this trait, but our record is spotty.

D = There is little evidence that we exemplify this trait, and we have obvious contradictions.

F = We operate almost entirely contrary to this trait.

First Who—Diagnostic, Part 1:

Get the right people on the bus.

We are rigorous in our selection process for getting new people on the bus.

We invest substantial time in evaluating each candidate, making systematic use of at least three

evaluation devices, e.g., interviews, references, examination of background, meeting members of the

family, testing.

When in doubt, we do not bring the person on the bus; we have the discipline to let a seat go unﬁlled—

taking on extra work as needed—until we have found the right person. If we ar

e in a “tenure” system,

we do not grant tenure unless we are 100% certain the individual is an exceptional permanent member.

We do an exceptional job of retaining the right people on the bus; we perpetuate our good decisions

for a very long time.

First Who—Diagnostic, Part 2:

Get the right people in the right seats.

We have 100% of the key seats on the bus ﬁlled with the right people. This doesn’t mean 100% of ALL

seats have the right people, but 100% of the key seats. (Note: this will likely pr

ovoke discussion as to

what are the key seats.)

When we think we have a potential “wrong who,” we ﬁrst give the person the beneﬁt of the doubt

that perhaps we have just put him or her in the wrong seat.

Whenever possible, we give a person the chance to prove himself or herself in a different seat, before

we draw the conclusion that he or she is a wrong person on the bus.

First Who—Diagnostic, Part 3:

Get the wrong people off the bus.

When we know we need to make a people change—after we have given the individual full opportunity

to demonstrate that he or she might be the right person—we deal with the issue.

When we correct a people selection mistake, we are rigorous in the decision, but not ruthless in the

implementation. We help people exit with dignity and grace so that, later, the vast majority of people

who have left our bus have positive feelings about our organization.

We autopsy our hiring mistakes, applying the lessons systematically to future hiring decisions.

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Grade:

(A, B, C, D, F)

First Who—Diagnostic, Part 4:

Put who before what.

When confronted with any problem or opportunity, our natural habit is to translate the decision from a

“what” question (“what should we do?”) into a “who” decision (“who would be the right person to

take responsibility for this?”).

A signiﬁcant portion of our time is spent in one form or another with people decisions: getting the right

people on the bus, getting the right people in the right seats, getting the wr

ong people off the bus,

developing people into bigger seats, planning for succession, etc.

We have a disciplined, systematic process for improving our success at getting the right people on the bus.

With each passing year, the percentage of people decisions that turn out good versus bad continues to rise.

FIRST WHO, THEN WHAT

CONTINUED

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Grade:

(A, B, C, D, F)

Grade:

(A, B, C, D, F)

Grade:

(A, B, C, D, F)

CONFRONT THE BRUTAL FACTS

Confront the Brutal Facts has three primary components:

1) Create a climate where the truth is heard.

2) Get the data.

3) Embrace the Stockdale Paradox.

Grade Range:

A = We exemplify this trait exceptionally well—there is limited room for improvement.

B = We often exemplify this trait, but we also have room for improvement.

C = We show some evidence of this trait, but our record is spotty.

D = There is little evidence that we exemplify this trait, and we have obvious contradictions.

F = We operate almost entirely contrary to this trait.

Confront the Brutal Facts, Part 1:

Create a climate where the truth is heard.

When things go wrong, we conduct “autopsies without blame”—we seek to understand underlying

root causes, rather than pin the blame on an individual.

Our leaders ask a lot of questions, rather than just making statements, ther

eby creating a climate of

vibrant dialogue and debate about the brutal facts.

Our leaders do not allow their charisma or force of personality to inhibit people from bringing forth

the brutal facts—even if those brutal facts run contrary to the views held by those leaders.

People in our culture are never penalized for bringing forth the brutal facts.

Confront the Brutal Facts, Part 2:

Get the data.

We make excellent use of data, metrics and hard tangible evidence to assess external threats and

internal weakness.

We make particularly good use of trend lines (to see where we are declining) and comparative statistics

(to see where we are falling behind others) to discover and highlight brutal facts.

When people advance a point of view or make an argument, we expect them to marshal evidence,

facts, and rigorous thinking to back up their argument. “It is my opinion” does not qualify as an

acceptable argument.

When someone has a gut instinct that “something is just wrong, “ we pay attention; instincts can be

good early warning systems. But we don’t just stop there: we then conduct a disciplined, fact-based

assessment of the situation.

Confront the Brutal Facts, Part 3:

Embrace the Stockdale Paradox.

When facing difﬁcult times, we never hold out false hopes soon to be swept away by events.

We are not unrealistic optimists who die of a broken heart when our belief that “it will be better

tomorrow” gets continually shattered on the rocks of reality.

Despite whatever brutal facts we face, we have an unwavering faith that we can and will pr

evail

in the end.

We believe that greatness is not primarily a function of circumstance; it is a ﬁrst and foremost a function

of conscious choice—and discipline. It is up to us.

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Grade:

(A, B, C, D, F)

Grade:

(A, B, C, D, F)

THE HEDGEHOG CONCEPT

The Hedgehog Concept has three primary components:

1) Keep it simple—be a hedgehog, not a fox.

2) Get your three circles right.

3) Act with understanding, not bravado.

Grade Range:

A = We exemplify this trait exceptionally well—there is limited room for improvement.

B = We often exemplify this trait, but we also have room for improvement.

C = We show some evidence of this trait, but our record is spotty.

D = There is little evidence that we exemplify this trait, and we have obvious contradictions.

F = We operate almost entirely contrary to this trait.

The Hedgehog Concept, Part 1:

Keep it simple—be a hedgehog, not a fox.

If forced to choose between describing us as foxes (crafty creatures that know many things) or

hedgehogs (simpler creatures that know one big thing), we would weigh in with the hedgehogs.

We keep it simple.

We have a simple, coherent strategic concept that we pursue with relentless consistency.

If we have multiple options for how to accomplish an objective, we almost always pick the

simplest option that will work. In other words, at each fork of the road, we tend toward the path

of simplicity, rather than complexity.

The Hedgehog Concept, Part 2:

Get your three circles right.

Our Hedgehog Concept reﬂects deep understanding of the three circles: 1) what we can be passionate

about, 2) what we can be the best in world at, and 3) what best drives our economic or r

esource engine.

We understand that nothing great can be accomplished without passion, and we limit our primary arenas

of activity to those for which we have great passion.

We know what we can be the best in the world at. While “best in the world” might be local or

highly-focused, e.g., “best in the world at breaking the cycle of homelessness in Indiana” or “best in

the world at providing ﬁnancial services to people in Des Moines,” it nonetheless captures what we

can do better than any other institution on the planet.

We understand what best drives our economic or resource engine. If we are a for-proﬁt business, we

have identiﬁed our one economic denominator—proﬁt per X—that has the most signiﬁcant impact on

our economics. If we are a social sector organization, we know how best to improve our total resource

engine, so that we can spend less time worrying about money and mor

e time fulﬁlling our mission.

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Grade:

(A, B, C, D, F)

The Hedgehog Concept, Part 3:

Act with understanding, not bravado.

We believe that great results come about by a series of good decisions—actions taken with

understanding, not bravado—accumulated one on top of another, in line with our Hedgehog Concept.

We believe that a great organization that sticks to its Hedgehog will, in the words of David Packard,

“have indigestion of too much opportunity,” rather than starvation for too little.

We confront the brutal facts of what we can—and equally cannot—become the best in the world at,

and we do not allow bravado to obscure the truth.

THE HEDGEHOG CONCEPT CONTINUED

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Grade:

(A, B, C, D, F)

Grade:

(A, B, C, D, F)

A CULTURE OF DISCIPLINE

A Culture of Discipline has four primary components:

1) Focus on your Hedgehog.

2) Build a system of freedom and responsibility within a framework.

3) Manage the system, not the people.

4) Practice extreme commitment.

Grade Range:

A = We exemplify this trait exceptionally well—there is limited room for improvement.

B = We often exemplify this trait, but we also have room for improvement.

C = We show some evidence of this trait, but our record is spotty.

D = There is little evidence that we exemplify this trait, and we have obvious contradictions.

F = We operate almost entirely contrary to this trait.

Culture of Discipline, Part 1:

Focus on your Hedgehog.

We have the discipline to say “No thank you” to big opportunities that do not ﬁt within our Hedgehog

Concept. A “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” is irrelevant if it is the wrong opportunity.

We never lurch after growth for growth’s sake; we grow consistently within our Hedgehog, period.

We are willing to jettison our core competencies and largest lines of business if we cannot be the best in

the world at them.

We make excellent use of “Stop Doing” lists.

Culture of Discipline, Part 2:

Build a system of freedom and responsibility within a framework.

A cornerstone of our culture is the idea of freedom and responsibility within a framework: so long as

people stay within the wide bounds of the framework, they have an immense amount of fr

eedom to

innovate, achieve and contribute.

People in our system understand that they do not have “jobs”—they have responsibilities—and they

grasp the distinction between just doing assigned tasks and taking full r

esponsibility for the results

of their efforts.

We can answer the question for each signiﬁcant activity, “Who is the one person responsible?”

Our culture is a productive blend of dualities, such as: freedom and responsibility, discipline and

entrepreneurship, rigor and creativity, ﬁnancial control and innovative spirit, focused Hedgehog and

adaptable. We see no contradictions in cultural duality; we exemplify the “Genius of the And.”

Culture of Discipline, Part 3:

Manage the system, not the people.

We do not spend a lot of time motivating our people; we recruit self-motivated people, and provide an

environment that does not de-motivate them.

We do not spend a lot of time disciplining our people; we recruit self-disciplined people, and then man

age the system, not the people.

We avoid bureaucracy that imposes unnecessary rules on self-motivated and self-disciplined people; if we

have the right people, they don’t need a lot of rules.

Grade:

(A, B, C, D, F)

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Grade:

(A, B, C, D, F)

Culture of Discipline, Part 4:

Practice extreme commitment.

In our culture, people go to extremes to fulﬁll their commitments and deliver results, bordering at times

on fanaticism.

Words like “disciplined,” “rigorous,” “dogged,” “determined,” “diligent,” “precise,” “systematic,”

”methodical,” “workmanlike,” “demanding,” “consistent,” “focused,” “accountable,” and

“responsible” describe us well.

We are equally disciplined in good times as in bad times. We never allow prosperity to make us complacent.

A CULTURE OF DISCIPLINE

CONTINUED

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Grade:

(A, B, C, D, F)

Grade:

(A, B, C, D, F)

THE FLYWHEEL, NOT THE DOOM LOOP

The Flywheel has four primary components:

1) Build cumulative momentum.

2) Be relentlessly consistent over time.

3) Create alignment by results, not hoopla.

4) Avoid the Doom Loop.

Grade Range:

A = We exemplify this trait exceptionally well—there is limited room for improvement.