Good to Great – Jim Collins

Brief Description of the Book

Good to Great is a research-based leadership and organisational excellence book that studies why some organisations make the leap from good performance to sustained greatness, while others do not. Based on long-term data and case studies, Jim Collins identifies disciplined leadership, institutional culture, humility, clarity of purpose, and long-term thinking as key drivers of success. Though written for organisations, its ideas translate very well to public administration, governance reforms, institutional capacity-building, and ethical leadership, making it highly relevant

The following extracts may be used in OPSC answer writing:

“Good is the enemy of great.”→ GS-2 Governance / Essay: Incrementalism vs transformative reforms, complacency in institutions

“Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company.”→ GS-4 Ethics: Humility in leadership, selfless public service, institution-first approach

“Level 5 leaders look out the window to apportion credit and in the mirror to apportion blame.”→ GS-4 Ethics: Accountability, responsibility, ethical leadership behaviour

“Great vision without great people is irrelevant.”→ GS-2 Governance: Human resource capacity, bureaucracy strengthening, institutional competence

“First who, then what.”→ GS-2 Governance / Essay: Importance of right personnel before policy design, leadership appointments

“When in doubt, don’t hire—keep looking.”→ GS-2 Governance: Recruitment quality, merit-based selection, institutional integrity

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” (Popularly associated with Collins’ work)→ GS-2 / GS-4: Organisational culture, ethics ecosystem, informal norms shaping governance
(Use as an idea; attribution can be indirect.)

“A culture of discipline is not a principle of business; it is a principle of greatness.”→ GS-4 Ethics / GS-2: Rule-following, institutional discipline, administrative efficiency

“Technology is an accelerator of momentum, not a creator of it.”→ GS-2 Governance: Limits of tech-driven governance, need for institutional reform first

“Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness is largely a matter of conscious choice.”→ GS-4 / Essay: Moral agency, leadership responsibility, reform mindset

“The best leaders don’t just build a company; they build an enduring institution.”→ GS-2 Governance / Essay: Institution-building beyond individuals, sustainability of reforms