This is Part 8, and the final post, on a series inspired by the book Good to Great by Jim Collins. Read Part 1. Read Part 2, Read Part 3, Read Part 4, Read Part 5, Read Part 6, Read Part 7.
Chapter 8, “The Flywheel and the Doom Loop”
Here you go, the moment of truth. The Good-to-Great companies worked hard. They relentlessly pushed forward over and over again until they eventually built momentum and hit a breakthrough. They didn’t do just one thing, they didn’t sit back and wait for a lucky break, they didn’t beg for a miracle in order to become great. They worked hard.
“Sustainable transformations follow a predictable pattern of buildup and breakthrough. Like pushing on a giant, heavy flywheel, it takes a lot of effort to get the thing moving at all, but with persistent pushing in a consistent direction over a long period fo time, the flywheel builds momentum, eventually hitting a point of breakthrough.”
I don’t know if this needs any additional explanation. Obviously working hard in the wrong direction will not turn your company great, but if you’ve managed to tackle and implement the first seven chapters of the book the only thing left to do is stick to it.
Laurie Morse-Dell is the Marketing & Technology Coordinator at Center for Technology & Business.
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