Good to Great… it’s time to put it away along with Collin’s Build to Last and Tom Peter’s In Search of Greatness. They made a lot of money off us over the years, but their philosophies were false, and they are outdated today. At the bottom of this blog, I have a list of 11 books that I would recommend.
Between those three aforementioned books, Tom & Tom named 50 successful businesses that were destined for long-term success. 19 of those companies beat the market… 13 succeeded to meet projections. That leaves 18 that failed including Maytag, Ford, HP, IBM, Delta, Kodak, Citicorp, Motorola, Sony, Pitney Bowes, Fannie Mae and Circuit City.
What did the Toms have wrong? Only two major things:
- They had NO IDEA what technology was going to do to these titanic companies. I can forgive them here.
- These companies are all running their companies on short-cited decisions that focus on profits NOW. Their stock value TODAY.
I won’t delve into the technology boom and unpredictability of the internet that brought Wi-Fi and an astronomical shift to cell phones and smaller devices. Only a few of the technology greats predicted it would happen as quickly as it did.
But #2 has stuck in my craw throughout my lifetime. Why are we making stupid decisions in major companies and pretending its wisdom? Everything I’ve seen in publicly traded companies is based on squeezing the most out of the orange this quarter. Even the model companies like Apple, Facebook and Google are under this same pressure.
The leading companies on this list are following the same path. Sure, go ahead and invest in them because half of them will succeed and pad your retirement – but we must make some changes in America. Or at the very least, in your business.
Don’t run your business like a publicly traded company. Stop looking at Wal-Mart, Philip Morris, Merck, Disney and Johnson & Johnson like they have something to teach you. They are hiring and firing without emotion, they are destroying our environment (or at least China’s), they are gluing our eyes to screens like never before and they are propagating an epidemic of “medicines” and mental health into our U.S. culture.
Instead, build your business making long-term decisions surrounding profit – and an authentic culture.
A few books to read in 2019:
- DO NOT put away Carnegie’s How to Win Friends…
- …or the Art of War by Sun Tzu
- The Snowball -Warren Buffet
- Crush It! -Gary Vaynerchuk
- The 4-Hour Workweek (becoming an oldie but goodie) -Tim Ferriss
- Drive -David Pink
- Predictable Revenue -Aaron Ross and MaryLou Tyler
- Smartcuts -Shane Snow
- Learned Optimism -Martin Seligman
- Mojo -Marshall Goldsmith
- Rework -Jason Fried and David Henemeier
Next week, I will write about one more book that should come off your shelf as well as recommend a list of business books focused on sales management and business development.
I’d like to hear about what’s on your bookshelf. Please comment or drop me an email!
It’s time to grow faster~ Drew
drew@blueoctopusllc.com
blueoctopusllc.com
Blue Octopus LLC 