Good to Great

Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don't have great government, principally because we have good government.

The vast majority of companies never become great, precisely because the vast majority become quite good—and that is their main problem.

Five years after that fateful dinner we can now say, without question, that good to great does happen, and we've learned much about the underlying variables that make it happen.

It's a good question. The answer is, 'Curiosity.' There is nothing I find more exciting than picking a question that I don't know the answer to and embarking on a quest for answers.

We eventually decided to limit our selection to the good-to-great results pattern, as we could not conceive of any legitimate and consistent method for selecting on these other variables without introducing our own biases.

I never stopped trying to become qualified for the job.

First Who... Then What.

People are not your most important asset. The right people are.

You must maintain 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.

The right people will do the right things and deliver the best results they're capable of, regardless of the incentive system.