the key lessons from this book, and so many others, are:
1. As March implies, there
are no magical leadership or organizational practices that will quickly propel your organization to the top of the heap. Even the greatest organizations struggle
to stay at the top and are led by fallible people
who make many mistakes.
2. There is no such thing as a single breakthrough study. The best and most valid conclusions and advice are based on a series of studies that have survived the brutal peer review process and that result in a consistent set of findings. In this regard, an interesting contrast is Chip and Dan Heath’s Made to Stick, which is based the weight of the evidence from hundreds of rigorous studies (instead of one that could not survive the peer review process unless the claims were toned way down and the hundreds of past studies that were consistent — and clashed with it — were at least mentioned). I especially point to Made to Stick, and I would add Influence, because they are so well-written that they show you can combine good scholarship with a great read.
3. My main objection, in the end, isn’t to the research Collins did — the stories are interesting and I believe that nearly all of the practices that he suggests would make a manager more effective — indeed many if not most are bolstered by more rigorous studies (albeit, even as his research now implies, as signs of competence or even ordinary greatness). My objection is — to use Jim March’s words — the hubris and ignorance about the claims about the rigor of the research and the originality of the ideas. There are lots of management books, or parts of management books, that are incredibly useful and inspiring, but don’t claim to draw on research. Orbiting the Giant Hairball is a great example. Another is Tom Kelley’s masterpiece Art of Innovation. The difference is that these great books don’t make excessive claims – Hairball draws on the author’s personal story and Tom Kelley draws mostly on what he and his colleagues have done at IDEO.
Inserted from <http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/12/good-to-great-more-evidence-that-most-claims-of-magic-are-testimony-to-hubris.html>
