Jim Collin's book "Good to Great"

“Good is the enemy of great.” The very first statement of the very first paragraph of chapter one in Jim Collins incredibly thought provoking book Good to Great communicate a primary theme of this book. People get settled in performing at a level that is “good” and thereby never experience a transformation leading to a level of greatness that so few people or organizations attain. It is from this premise that Collins and his research team approached the construction of this work. They asked themselves the question, can a good company become a great company, and if so, how? It is from this question that the author began to assemble the characteristics of “great companies” and identify what organizations have not only attained the title of being “great”, but also remained as such over the years?

As a result, the researchers found a transformative theme that was apparent in all of the “great companies.” Each of the companies experienced a “build up” which led them to a “breakthrough”, within the three broad stages of “disciplined people”, “disciplined thought” and “disciplined action.” If this weren’t enough, Collins and his team break the process down even further and present three concepts that represent each of the three broad stages. In the “disciplined people” stage the concepts of level 5 leadership and “first who…then what” were discussed. In stage two, “disciplined thought”, the concepts of confronting the brutal facts and the Hedgehog concept were presented. Finally, in stage three, “disciplined action”, the authors discussed the concepts of a culture of discipline and technology accelerators.

The concepts that Collins presents are absolutely fascinating, especially when one begins the application process of this information to the church-world. Collins discusses six concepts that are completely transferable to the church. They are:

Level 5 Leadership. The authors discovered that instead of some weighty personality that was high-profile, with celebrity status, all “great companies” were led by people that were “self effacing, quiet, reserved, even shy” with a strong blend of “personal humility and professional will.” This is the concept that intrigued me the most when I read this book. Jesus has called all of us toward level 5 leadership. The problem with many of us is that we allow our pride, power and control, perfection or fame to get in the way and thwart our forward progress.

First Who…Then What. This concept is something I still struggle with. Even though at my very heart I am an equipper and people always come before systems. I discovered that I believed that within the church, you must first set a clear vision and direction and then call people to action to follow the vision. People would naturally emerge in response to the vision. Collins suggests, rather his research shows that “good to great leaders” would first get “the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats–and then they figured out where to drive it. The old adage ‘People are your most important asset’ turns out to be wrong. People are not your most important asses. The right people are.”

Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith). The author found that every “good to great leader” embraced what came to be known as the “Stockdale Paradox” and that is “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, whatever they might be.” When I first read this, I said out loud “praise the Lord.” As level 5 leaders, we must maintain a faith that doesn’t waver or give in at the quick turning of the tide, but rather, we must stand strong while honestly evaluating what we might be doing to contribute to both our success and failure.

The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles). This concept suggests that unless our organizations are not the very best we can be at our “core business” or the foundational components of our organization that set us apart, then we can never become “great companies” standing strong for the long term. This concept represented the intersection of three key questions: What can we be the best in the world at? What drives our economic engine? What are we deeply passionate about? This principle also represented the guiding principle that focused an organization’s efforts toward greatness. I’ve never thought to ask these three questions of the church. I consistently am asking people similar questions that help them to determine their passion and direction, but never the church as an organism.

A Culture of Discipline. This concept took the three stages of “disciplined people, thought and action” and translated them into a culture of discipline that becomes the overarching environment in which the organization finds itself existing. Collins writes that “when you have disciplined people, you don’t need hierarchy. When you have disciplined thought, you don’t need bureaucracy. When you have disciplined action, you don’t need excessive controls.” This becomes a breeding ground for the great performance of your most important aspect: The right people. In the church, I think this concept could become a pretty big mountain to overcome. While we all understand that our job is our ministry, and we serve to please God and develop God’s people, there is a deterrent to performance related issues. We seem to think that because the church is filled with God’s grace, then we can’t effectively hold people accountable for their performance. Therefore a culture of discipline doesn’t exist in most churches, and therefore, according to Collins research, “great performance” never happens.

Technology Accelerators. This concept presented the fact that most “good to great companies” used technology to their benefit. While they weren’t using “technology to ignite transformation,” they did think much differently about technology and were early “pioneers” of technology that truly made a difference in helping to make them great at their core business endeavors.
The Flywheel and the Doom Loop. This concept represents the fact that no great change initiative ever happens “in one fell swoop.” Collins writes that “no single defining action…program…innovation…lucky break…miracle moment” that resulted in personal or organizational transformation. “Rather,” he writes, “the process resembled relentlessly pushing a giant heavy flywheel…turn upon turn, building momentum until a point of breakthrough, and beyond.”

Collins states that his book is written to describe how one might turn a pretty good company or church, for that matter, into “one that produces sustained great results” over the long haul. This book is the description of “timeless principles” that endure throughout the changes in economy or the world. Collins writes that “specific applications will change, but certain immutable laws of organized human performance will endure.”

For me, the part of the book that made the most impact is when Collins writes about “Level 5 Leadership.” The Level 5 Leader represents for Collins and his team the highest level in a hierarchy of key leadership abilities that they discovered in their research. They determined that there were five different levels of leaders, that included: Highly capable individuals (level 1), Contributing team members (level 2), Competent manager (level 3), Effective leader (level 4), Level 5 executive (level 5).

The research discovered that Level 5 leaders had an incredible humility and modesty and yet a very strong resolve and will. They almost never talked about themselves, but rather about how the company could become the greatest that it could be. The most fascinating component of the research focused on what Collins called “the window and the mirror.” Collins writes that “Level 5 leaders look out the window to apportion credit to factors outside of themselves when things go well (and if they cannot find a specific person or event to give credit to, they credit good luck). At the same time, they look in the mirror to apportion responsibility, never blaming bad luck when things go poorly.”

A Level 5 Leader always gave praise and recognition away to others when things went well. They looked, if you will, out the window to find who they could share the praise with, and they did so, never accepting the praise for themselves. However, when things went poorly, a Level 5 Leader would most always look into the mirror and accepted the responsibility for how things turned out negatively. “The comparison leaders,” as Collins called them, “did just the opposite.” When things went poorly, they looked out the window for someone or something to blame for the negative results, and when there were successes, they quickly and easily credited themselves for the positives that occurred.

The reason that this component of the book impacted me so much is that if leaders within the church would apply this very simple formula, then it alone could have the power to transform the very way that ministry happens and people experience leadership. It could change the way that “church” happens, as people are equipped and empowered to be the arms of Christ reaching to the world. This formula, I believe, could be a potentially new leadership paradigm for ministry leaders and transform the way ministry and leadership occurs. So how does this happen? How do we become Level 5 leaders?

Collins writes that there are two types of people. There are those that have the “seed of Level 5” leadership, and those that do not. Those that do not have this seed could “never in a million years bring themselves to subjugate their egoistic needs to the greater ambition of building something larger and more lasting than themselves. For these people, work will always be first and foremost about what they get – fame, fortune, adulation, power, whatever – not what they build, create and contribute.” However, those that have the seed of Level 5 leadership can at any time arise in any given situation. Collins believes that Level 5 Leaders “exist all around us if we just know what to look for.” He states that this is “situations where extraordinary results exist but where no individual steps forth to claim excess credit.” This is where you will find a Level 5 Leader at work.

I believe, based on Collins research, that each of us, as clergy, has been given the seed of “level 5 leadership” by God. This seed is the biblical model and example that Jesus embodied from the scriptures. We all have the potential to be transformative leaders, if we only deny ourselves, take up our cross and learn to follow Christ, all the while supporting and lifting up God’s people.